In Brief: L1 Group, Storage King & Bellevue Gold

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This story features L1 GROUP LIMITED, and other companies.
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: L1G
The company is included in ASX300 and ALL-ORDS

This week's In Brief covers three hidden 'jewels' that are offering value and upside potential.

• L1 Group ready to outperform as investment performance and new strategies support growth
• Deep value opportunity in Storage King’s development pipeline 
• Bellevue Gold eyes stronger cash flow as production improves and hedges unwind

By Danielle Ecuyer

This week’s quote comes from Stephen Innes, The Dark Side of the Boom:

“The irony is that if AI capex ever hits a wall, the eventual macro impulse is likely to be violently disinflationary as construction, power demand, equipment spending, and financing needs all roll over at once.

“Yields would probably fall. But the stocks that carried the indices through the boom would likely discover the trapdoor first.

“Markets aren’t there yet, but for the first time in a while, they are at least glancing in that direction.”

L1 Group post Platinum poised for positive surprise

Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage of L1 Group ((L1G)).

The group is an investment management business created through a reverse merger with Platinum Asset Management in 2025, which has resulted in an almost $20bn funds under management “powerhouse”.

L1 Group is known for its flagship L1 long/short strategies, which have generated a great earnings stream for investors. Not to be sneezed at in the current environment of active managers underperforming.

As at FY26, the group had nearly $14bn in L1-branded strategies.

Strategically, the aim has been to stabilise the remaining circa $5bn in FUM with Platinum. In 1Q27, L1 has been taking on additional investment management responsibilities, including the MLC Platinum Global Fund with around $350m in FUM and the Platinum International Technology Fund. PXC Advisors has also been established as a new affiliate of L1 Group.

Regarding the remaining Platinum funds, including International and Asia, the broker highlights a stabilisation of FUM over August, albeit the L1 International mandate has “underwhelmed” since taking over.

Canaccord is forecasting funds to plateau at around $2.5bn compared to $3.3bn in June, with the optionality to transfer remaining specialist strategies into existing/new affiliates to improve profitability.

The broker’s earnings forecasts are broadly in line with consensus, with the added belief that forecasts are likely to prove conservative, as little contribution is assumed from PXC Advisors, L1 Australian Small Companies, existing funds or future affiliates.

Potential upside catalysts include PXC fundraising, new strategies and affiliates, including the expected L1 Balanced Equities Fund, and continued strong investment performance.

Both long/short strategies have already achieved their annual 3.5% performance target, while the broker highlights the circa $1.4bn L1 Gold strategy as underappreciated, with every 1% absolute return potentially adding more than $3m in performance fees.

Around $30m-plus in performance fees is estimated to have accrued by mid-September, providing potential upside to 2HFY27 forecasts and beyond.

L1’s earnings stream is viewed as higher quality than peers, with Canaccord noting an unusual feature is shareholders only receive performance fees on the first 3.5% of absolute returns from the long/short strategies, with fees above this level accruing to legacy L1 Capital shareholders.

While this limits shareholder upside in particularly strong years, the broker points to alignment from co-founders Raphael Lamm and Mark Landau, who receive no variable remuneration and have substantial personal capital invested in both L1 Group and its funds.

Their financial upside is instead linked to L1G dividends and performance fees.

The recent pullback in the share price by some -12% is viewed as an opportunity. The stock has a Buy rating with a $1.41 target.

Storage King opportunity at a deep discount 

The placement of Abacus Group’s ((ABG)) equity in Storage King Group ((SKG)) has removed a major price overhang for the stock.

Shaw and Partners highlights the retracement in the share price, down some -18% since the FY26 results, when investors adjusted cash flow and balance sheet metrics for the pull-forward of management’s circa $250m development program.

The stock has fallen around -34% since January’s $1.62.

Storage King remains Australia’s leading self-storage brand and the only remaining ASX-listed industry participant. Shaw sees the stock trading at “deep value” levels.

The group has nearly 230,000m2 of development and lease-up capacity, with 110,000m2 under development and 127,000m2 being completed and leased, referred to as stabilising.

This compares with a mature portfolio of 600,000m2.

Shaw estimates the projects combined with yield growth can boost revenue by almost 32% or $80m by 2032. This growth is flagged to become evident in earnings from FY29.

Regarding gearing, management expects interest cover ratio to fall to the mid-2-times in FY27 and gearing to move to the upper end of the target range between 25%-40%.

Non-core sites in the group’s portfolio could be divested to assist with gearing levels.

In terms of store openings, seven are planned for FY27, including two of the largest facilities at Sydney Olympic Park and Prescott in Melbourne.

Shaw points out new stores usually dilute FFO and cash flow in the early years, as it can take 2-3 years to achieve breakeven.

Management is noted for having a good track record of selecting attractive locations and successfully leasing new facilities.

Potential sales of non-core assets from the 132-site portfolio could help validate the stated NTA of $1.77 which is considered as conservative.

The broker also highlights valuations do not capture the benefits of the Storage King brand and systems, which support revenues and rental premiums.

The stock is Buy rated with a $1.30 target.

For more information on Abacus Group see https://fnarena.com/2026/09/22/treasure-chest-abacus-group/

Bellevue Gold poised to re-rate?

Moelis indicates Bellevue Gold’s ((BGL)) FY26 results were “benign”, albeit EBITDA outperformed on expectations due to lease cost allocation. Overall, the result met expectations for the year, while management reiterated FY27 guidance.

Production forecasts are largely unchanged, although management pointed to around a -3koz-4koz impact on September quarter production due to a contractor changeover.

An updated tax loss of around -$400m was revealed, which, as the analyst explains, gives the gold producer a further six-month delay before it is expected to start cash payments to the ATO.

The delay has resulted in a near-term cash flow boost and underpins a rise in the target price to $2.10 from $1.90.

Moelis observes the share price has by and large tracked its gold peers over the recent week/month, but believes a period of outperformance remains likely as management accelerates the close-out of its hedge book.

The program was flagged to be completed in FY27 by management, while the analyst assumes production and cash flow could see this resolved by March 2027.

There is even scope for Bellevue to use a new debt facility to close out the remaining hedges and repay $100m in debt coming due, although Moelis is not sure management has the appetite for such a move.

The stock remains Buy rated on an attractive valuation, supported by ongoing improvement in production, exploration success and the closure of the hedge.

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