MFS Government Markets Income Trust
01/20/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/20/2022 12:03
Annual Report by Investment Company (Form N-CSR)
MFS GOVERNMENT MARKETS INCOME TRUST N-CSR
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM N-CSR
CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF
REGISTERED MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Investment Company Act file number 811-05078
MFS GOVERNMENT MARKETS INCOME TRUST
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
111 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02199
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
Christopher R. Bohane
Massachusetts Financial Services Company
111 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02199
(Name and address of agents for service)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (617) 954-5000
Date of fiscal year end: November 30
Date of reporting period: November 30, 2021
| ITEM 1. |
REPORTS TO STOCKHOLDERS. |
| Item 1(a): |
Annual Report
November 30, 2021
MFS® Government Markets Income Trust
MGF-ANN
MANAGED DISTRIBUTION POLICY DISCLOSURE
The MFS Government Markets Income Trust's (the fund) Board of Trustees adopted a managed distribution policy. The fund seeks to pay monthly distributions based on an annual rate of 7.25% of the fund's average monthly net asset value. The primary purpose of the managed distribution policy is to provide shareholders with a constant, but not guaranteed, fixed minimum rate of distribution each month. You should not draw any conclusions about the fund's investment performance from the amount of the current distribution or from the terms of the fund's managed distribution policy. The Board may amend or terminate the managed distribution policy at any time without prior notice to fund shareholders. The amendment or termination of the managed distribution policy could have an adverse effect on the market price of the fund's shares.
With each distribution, the fund will issue a notice to shareholders and an accompanying press release which will provide detailed information regarding the amount and composition of the distribution and other related information. The amounts and sources of distributions reported in the notice to shareholders are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the fund's investment experience during its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes. Please refer to "Tax Matters and Distributions" under Note 2 of the Notes to Financial Statements for information regarding the tax character of the fund's distributions.
Under a managed distribution policy the fund may at times distribute more than its net investment income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may result in a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the fund is paid back to you. Any such returns of capital will decrease the fund's total assets and, therefore, could have the effect of increasing the fund's expense ratio. In addition, in order to make the level of distributions called for under its managed distribution policy, the fund may have to sell portfolio securities at a less than opportune time. A return of capital does not necessarily reflect the fund's investment performance and should not be confused with 'yield' or 'income'. The fund's total return in relation to changes in net asset value is presented in the Financial Highlights.
MFS® Government Markets Income Trust
New York Stock Exchange Symbol: MGF
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Letter from the CEO
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Portfolio composition
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Management review
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Performance summary
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Investment objective, principal investment strategies and principal risks
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Portfolio managers' profiles
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Dividend reinvestment and cash purchase plan
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Portfolio of investments
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Statement of assets and liabilities
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Statement of operations
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Statements of changes in net assets
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Financial highlights
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Notes to financial statements
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Report of independent registered public accounting firm
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Results of shareholder meeting
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Trustees and officers
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51 |
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Board review of investment advisory agreement
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Proxy voting policies and information
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59 |
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Quarterly portfolio disclosure
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59 |
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Further information
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Information about fund contracts and legal claims
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Federal tax information
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MFS® privacy notice
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Contact information
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back cover |
NOT FDIC INSURED • MAY LOSE VALUE • NO BANK GUARANTEE
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
LETTER FROM THE CEO
Dear Shareholders:
After experiencing dramatic swings in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, global equity markets have performed strongly over the past year. Though the speedy development of vaccines brightened the economic and market outlook, uncertainty remains as variants of the virus appear, the effectiveness of vaccines appears to wane over time, and their uneven distribution impacts the developing world.
After having taken aggressive steps to cushion the economic and market fallout related to the virus, some global central banks have begun to recalibrate monetary policy. For example, the U.S. Federal Reserve has begun to taper its bond buying, which has pushed up Treasury yields, particularly on the short end of the yield curve. Fiscal stimulus has been abundant as the U.S. Congress passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in March and a $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill in November. Along with the high levels of government spending, production and transportation bottlenecks and labor shortages stemming from the pandemic have fueled a rise in inflation.
Since midyear, global economic growth has moderated, with the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus and a regulatory crackdown in China featuring prominently. Stress in China's property development sector has contributed to a slowdown there. Tightening global energy and raw materials supplies are a further concern for investors.
The policy measures put in place to counteract the pandemic's effects have helped build a supportive environment and are encouraging economic recovery; however, if markets disconnect from fundamentals, they can sow the seeds of instability. As such, recent dramatic increases in speculative trading in cryptocurrencies, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), and the like bear watching.
In the aftermath of the crisis, we could see societal changes as households, businesses, and governments adjust to a new reality, and any such alterations could affect the investment landscape. For investors, events such as the COVID-19 outbreak demonstrate the importance of having a deep understanding of company fundamentals, and we have built our global research platform to do just that.
At MFS®, we put our clients' assets to work responsibly by carefully navigating the increasing complexity of global markets and economies. Guided by our commitment to long-term investing, we tune out the noise and aim to uncover what we believe are the best, most durable investment opportunities in the market. Our unique global investment platform combines collective expertise, long-term discipline, and thoughtful risk management to create sustainable value for investors over time.
Respectfully,
Michael W. Roberge
Chief Executive Officer
MFS Investment Management
January 14, 2022
The opinions expressed in this letter are subject to change and may not be relied upon for investment advice. No forecasts can be guaranteed.
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Portfolio Composition
Portfolio structure (i)
Fixed income sectors (i)
| Mortgage-Backed Securities | 38.6% |
| U.S. Treasury Securities | 32.8% |
| Investment Grade Corporates | 12.6% |
| Emerging Markets Bonds | 5.0% |
| Municipal Bonds | 4.6% |
| Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities | 3.6% |
| Collateralized Debt Obligations | 2.4% |
| U.S. Government Agencies | 0.6% |
| High Yield Corporates | 0.5% |
| Non-U.S. Government Bonds | 0.2% |
| Asset-Backed Securities | 0.1% |
Composition including fixed income credit quality (a)(i)
| AAA | 4.3% |
| AA | 4.4% |
| A | 8.1% |
| BBB | 10.2% |
| BB | 1.2% |
| CC | 0.8% |
| U.S. Government | 39.4% |
| Federal Agencies | 39.2% |
| Not Rated | (6.6)% |
| Cash & Cash Equivalents | (7.6)% |
| Other | 6.6% |
Portfolio facts (i)
| Average Duration (d) | 6.1 |
| Average Effective Maturity (m) | 8.2 yrs. |
| (a) | For all securities other than those specifically described below, ratings are assigned to underlying securities utilizing ratings from Moody's, Fitch, and Standard & Poor's rating agencies and applying the following hierarchy: If all three agencies provide a rating, the middle rating (after dropping the highest and lowest ratings) is assigned; if two of the three agencies rate a security, the lower of the two is assigned. If none of the 3 rating agencies above assign a rating, but the security is rated by DBRS Morningstar, then the DBRS Morningstar rating is assigned. If none of the 4 rating agencies listed above rate the security, but the security is rated by the Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), then the KBRA rating is assigned. Ratings are shown in the S&P and Fitch scale (e.g., AAA). Securities rated BBB or higher are considered investment grade. All ratings are subject to change. U.S. Government includes securities issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Federal Agencies includes rated and unrated U.S. Agency fixed-income securities, U.S. Agency mortgage-backed securities, and collateralized mortgage obligations of U.S. Agency mortgage-backed securities. |
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Portfolio Composition - continued
Not Rated includes fixed income securities and fixed income derivatives that have not been rated by any rating agency. The fund may or may not have held all of these instruments on this date. The fund is not rated by these agencies.
| (d) | Duration is a measure of how much a bond's price is likely to fluctuate with general changes in interest rates, e.g., if rates rise 1.00%, a bond with a 5-year duration is likely to lose about 5.00% of its value due to the interest rate move. |
| (i) | For purposes of this presentation, the components include the value of securities, and reflect the impact of the equivalent exposure of derivative positions, if any. These amounts may be negative from time to time. Equivalent exposure is a calculated amount that translates the derivative position into a reasonable approximation of the amount of the underlying asset that the portfolio would have to hold at a given point in time to have the same price sensitivity that results from the portfolio's ownership of the derivative contract. When dealing with derivatives, equivalent exposure is a more representative measure of the potential impact of a position on portfolio performance than value. The bond component will include any accrued interest amounts. |
| (m) | In determining each instrument's effective maturity for purposes of calculating the fund's dollar-weighted average effective maturity, MFS uses the instrument's stated maturity or, if applicable, an earlier date on which MFS believes it is probable that a maturity-shortening device (such as a put, pre-refunding or prepayment) will cause the instrument to be repaid. Such an earlier date can be substantially shorter than the instrument's stated maturity. |
Where the fund holds convertible bonds, they are treated as part of the equity portion of the portfolio.
Cash & Cash Equivalents includes any cash, investments in money market funds, short-term securities, and other assets less liabilities. Please see the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for additional information related to the fund's cash position and other assets and liabilities.
From time to time Cash & Cash Equivalents may be negative due to timing of cash receipts and disbursements.
Other includes equivalent exposure from currency derivatives and/or any offsets to derivative positions and may be negative.
Percentages are based on net assets as of November 30, 2021.
The portfolio is actively managed and current holdings may be different.
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Management Review
Summary of Results
For the twelve months ended November 30, 2021, the MFS Government Markets Income Trust (fund) provided a total return of -1.32%, at net asset value and a total return of -0.84%, at market value. This compares with a return of -1.47% for the fund's benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Government/Mortgage Bond Index. Over the same period, the fund's other benchmark, the MFS Government Markets Income Trust Blended Index (Blended Index), generated a return of -1.29%. The Blended Index reflects the blended returns of various fixed income market indices, with percentage allocations to each index designed to resemble the fixed income allocations of the fund. The market indices and related percentage allocations used to compile the Blended Index are set forth in the Performance Summary.
The performance commentary below is based on the net asset value performance of the fund, which reflects the performance of the underlying pool of assets held by the fund. The total return at market value represents the return earned by owners of the shares of the fund, which are traded publicly on the exchange.
Market Environment
Over the past year, the global economy was buffeted by an array of crosscurrents as it adjusted to the ebbs and flows of the pandemic. Among the supportive currents were ample fiscal stimulus, loose monetary policy and the rollout of several highly effective coronavirus vaccines. Negative currents included the rapid spread of several coronavirus variants, widespread global production bottlenecks and a surge in inflation. After experiencing a burst of exceptionally strong economic activity as the global economy began to reopen, growth slowed lately as shortages of raw materials, labor, intermediate goods and even energy in some countries, disrupted supply chains.
Amid rising inflation, markets anticipated a transition from an exceptionally accommodative environment to a more mixed monetary landscape ahead. Indeed, several central banks in emerging markets have already tightened policy and the US Federal Reserve reduced the pace of its asset purchases in November. However, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the People's Bank of China are expected to maintain accommodative policies. Sovereign bond yields moved modestly higher late in the period amid higher inflation and on expectations of a tighter Fed but slipped lower as the highly-transmissible Omicron variant began to spread at the end of the period.
A harsher Chinese regulatory environment toward industries such as online gaming, food delivery and education increased market volatility as has stress in China's highly leveraged property development sector. Trade relations between the United States and China remained quite strained despite a change in presidential administrations.
Signs of excess investor enthusiasm continued to be seen in pockets of the market such as "meme stocks" popular with users of online message boards, cryptocurrencies and heavy retail participation in the market for short-dated options.
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Management Review - continued
Factors Affecting Performance
Relative to the Blended Index, the fund's out-of-benchmark exposure to both the municipal and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) sectors contributed to performance. Favorable security selection within both the treasury and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) agency fixed rate sectors also benefited relative results.
Conversely, the fund's yield curve(y) positioning during the reporting period was an area of relative weakness.
The fund has a managed distribution policy, the primary purpose of which is to provide shareholders with a constant, but not guaranteed, fixed rate of distribution each month. This policy had no material impact on the fund's investment strategies during its most recent fiscal year. The level of distributions paid by the fund pursuant to its managed distribution policy may cause the fund's NAV per share to decline more so than if the policy were not in place, including if distributions are in excess of fund returns. For the twelve months ended November 30, 2021, the tax character of dividends paid pursuant to the managed distribution policy includes an ordinary income distribution of $2,900,169 and a tax return of capital distribution of $7,851,681. See "Managed Distribution Policy Disclosure" in the inside cover page of this Annual Report for additional details regarding the policy and related implications for the fund and shareholders.
Respectfully,
Portfolio Manager(s)
Geoffrey Schechter, Neeraj Arora, and Alexander Mackey
Note to Shareholders: Effective May 31, 2021, Neeraj Arora and Alexander Mackey were added as Portfolio Managers of the fund. Effective June 30, 2021, Ward Brown, Robert Persons, and Matt Ryan are no longer Portfolio Managers of the fund.
| (y) | A yield curve graphically depicts the yields of different maturity bonds of the same credit quality and type; a normal yield curve is upward sloping, with short-term rates lower than long-term rates. |
The views expressed in this report are those of the portfolio manager(s) only through the end of the period of the report as stated on the cover and do not necessarily reflect the views of MFS or any other person in the MFS organization. These views are subject to change at any time based on market or other conditions, and MFS disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied upon as investment advice or an indication of trading intent on behalf of any MFS portfolio. References to specific securities are not recommendations of such securities, and may not be representative of any MFS portfolio's current or future investments.
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Performance Summary THROUGH 11/30/21
The following chart illustrates the fund's historical performance in comparison to its benchmark(s). Performance results reflect the percentage change in net asset value and market value, including reinvestment of fund distributions. Benchmarks are unmanaged and may not be invested in directly. Benchmark returns do not reflect commissions or expenses. (See Notes to Performance Summary.)
Performance data shown represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value fluctuate so your shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than the original cost; current performance may be lower or higher than quoted. The performance shown does not reflect the deduction of taxes, if any, that a shareholder would pay on fund distributions or the sale of fund shares.
Growth of a Hypothetical $10,000 Investment
Average Annual Total Returns through 11/30/21
| Inception Date | 1-yr | 5-yr | 10-yr | |
| Market Value (r) | 5/28/87 | (0.84)% | 4.26% | 2.90% |
| Net Asset Value (r) | 5/28/87 | (1.32)% | 3.49% | 2.86% |
Comparative benchmark(s)
| Bloomberg U.S. Government/Mortgage Bond Index (f) | (1.47)% | 2.91% | 2.33% |
| MFS Government Markets Income Trust Blended Index (Blended Index) (f)(w) | (1.29)% | 3.37% | 2.80% |
| Bloomberg U.S. Credit Bond Index (f) | (0.55)% | 5.20% | 4.66% |
| (f) | Source: FactSet Research Systems Inc. |
| (r) | Includes reinvestment of all distributions. Market value references New York Stock Exchange Price. |
| (w) | As of November 30, 2021, the MFS Government Markets Income Trust Blended Index (a custom index) was comprised of 80% Bloomberg U.S. Government/Mortgage Bond Index and 20% Bloomberg U.S. Credit Bond Index. |
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Performance Summary - continued
Benchmark Definition(s)
Bloomberg U.S. Credit Bond Index(a) - a market capitalization-weighted index that measures the performance of publicly issued, SEC-registered, U.S. corporate and specified foreign debentures and secured notes that meet specified maturity, liquidity, and quality requirements.
Bloomberg U.S. Government/Mortgage Bond Index(a) - measures debt issued by the U.S. Government, and its agencies, as well as mortgage-backed pass-through securities of Ginnie Mae (GNMA), Fannie Mae (FNMA), and Freddie Mac (FHLMC).
It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
| (a) | Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively "Bloomberg"). Bloomberg or Bloomberg's licensors own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Bloomberg neither approves or endorses this material, or guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, or makes any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom and, to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith. |
Notes to Performance Summary
The fund's shares may trade at a discount or premium to net asset value. When fund shares trade at a premium, buyers pay more than the net asset value underlying fund shares, and shares purchased at a premium would receive less than the amount paid for them in the event of the fund's concurrent liquidation.
The fund's target annual distribution rate is calculated based on an annual rate of 7.25% of the fund's average monthly net asset value, not a fixed share price, and the fund's dividend amount will fluctuate with changes in the fund's average monthly net assets.
Net asset values and performance results based on net asset value per share do not include adjustments made for financial reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and may differ from amounts reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities or the Financial Highlights.
From time to time the fund may receive proceeds from litigation settlements, without which performance would be lower.
In accordance with Section 23(c) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, the fund hereby gives notice that it may from time to time repurchase shares of the fund in the open market at the option of the Board of Trustees and on such terms as the Trustees shall determine.
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks
Investment Objective
The fund's investment objective is to seek high current income, but may also consider capital appreciation. The fund's objective may be changed without shareholder approval.
Principal Investment Strategies
MFS normally invests at least 80% of the fund's net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes, in U.S. and foreign government securities.
MFS may invest the fund's assets in other types of debt instruments.
MFS generally invests substantially all of the fund's assets in investment grade quality debt instruments.
MFS may purchase or sell securities for the fund on a when-issued, delayed delivery, or forward commitment basis. When MFS sells securities for the fund on a when-issued, delayed delivery, or forward commitment basis, the fund typically owns or has the right to acquire securities equivalent in kind and amount to the deliverable securities.
MFS invests the fund's assets in U.S. and foreign securities, including emerging market securities.
MFS normally invests the fund's assets across different countries and regions, but MFS may invest a significant percentage of the fund's assets in issuers in a single country or region.
MFS may invest a significant percentage of the fund's assets in a single issuer or a small number of issuers.
The fund seeks to make a monthly distribution at an annual fixed rate of 7.25% of the fund's average monthly net asset value.
While MFS may use derivatives for any investment purpose, to the extent MFS uses derivatives, MFS expects to use derivatives primarily to increase or decrease exposure to a particular market, segment of the market, or security, to increase or decrease interest rate or currency exposure, or as alternatives to direct investments.
MFS uses an active bottom-up investment approach to buying and selling investments for the fund. Investments are selected primarily based on fundamental analysis of individual instruments and their issuers in light of the issuers' financial condition and market, economic, political, and regulatory conditions. Factors considered may include the instrument's credit quality and terms, any underlying assets and their credit quality, and the issuer's management ability, capital structure, leverage, and ability to meet its current obligations. MFS may also consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in its fundamental investment analysis where MFS believes such factors could materially impact the economic value of an issuer or instrument. Quantitative
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
screening tools that systematically evaluate the structure of a debt instrument and its features may also be considered. In structuring the fund, MFS also considers top-down factors, including sector allocations, yield curve positioning, duration, macroeconomic factors, and risk management factors.
If approved by the fund's Board of Trustees, the fund may use leverage through the issuance of preferred shares, borrowing from banks, and/or other methods of creating leverage, and investing the proceeds pursuant to its investment strategies.
MFS may engage in active and frequent trading in pursuing the fund's principal investment strategies.
In response to market, economic, political, or other conditions, MFS may depart from the fund's principal investment strategies by temporarily investing for defensive purposes.
Principal Investment Types
The principal investment types in which the fund may invest are:
Debt Instruments: Debt instruments represent obligations of corporations, governments, and other entities to repay money borrowed, or other instruments believed to have debt-like characteristics. The issuer or borrower usually pays a fixed, variable, or floating rate of interest, and must repay the amount borrowed, usually at the maturity of the instrument. Debt instruments generally trade in the over-the-counter market and can be less liquid than other types of investments, particularly during adverse market and economic conditions. During certain market conditions, debt instruments in some or many segments of the debt market can trade at a negative interest rate (i.e., the price to purchase the debt instrument is more than the present value of expected interest payments and principal due at the maturity of the instrument). Some debt instruments, such as zero coupon bonds or payment-in-kind bonds, do not pay current interest. Other debt instruments, such as certain mortgage-backed securities and other securitized instruments, make periodic payments of interest and/or principal. Some debt instruments are partially or fully secured by collateral supporting the payment of interest and principal.
U.S. Government Securities: U.S. Government securities are securities issued or guaranteed as to the payment of principal and interest by the U.S. Treasury, by an agency or instrumentality of the U.S. Government, or by a U.S. Government-sponsored entity. Certain U.S. Government securities are not supported as to the payment of principal and interest by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury or the ability to borrow from the U.S. Treasury. Some U.S. Government securities are supported as to the payment of principal and interest only by the credit of the entity issuing or guaranteeing the security. U.S. Government securities include mortgage-backed securities and other types of securitized instruments guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury, by an agency or instrumentality of the U.S. Government, or by a U.S. Government-sponsored entity.
Foreign Government Securities: Foreign government securities are debt instruments issued, guaranteed, or supported, as to the payment of principal and interest, by foreign governments, foreign government agencies, foreign semi-governmental entities or supranational entities, or debt instruments issued by entities organized and operated
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
for the purpose of restructuring outstanding foreign government securities. Foreign government securities may not be supported as to the payment of principal and interest by the full faith and credit of the foreign government.
Securitized Instruments: Securitized instruments are debt instruments that generally provide payments of principal and interest based on the terms of the instrument and cash flows generated by the underlying assets. Underlying assets include residential and commercial mortgages, debt instruments, loans, leases, and receivables. Securitized instruments are issued by trusts or other special purpose entities that hold the underlying assets. Certain securitized instruments offer multiple classes that differ in terms of their priority to receive principal and/or interest payments under the terms of the instrument. Securitized instruments include mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and other asset-backed securities. Certain mortgage-backed securities are issued on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis where payment and delivery take place at a future date.
When-Issued, Delayed Delivery, and Forward Commitment Transactions: When-issued, delayed delivery, and forward commitment transactions, including securities purchased or sold in the to be announced (TBA) market, involve a commitment to purchase or sell a specific security at a predetermined price or yield at which payment and delivery take place after the customary settlement period for that type of security. Typically, no interest accrues to the purchaser until the security is delivered. When purchasing or selling securities pursuant to one of these transactions, payment for the securities is not required until the delivery date. However, the purchaser assumes the rights and risks of ownership, including the risks of price and yield fluctuations and the risk that the security will not be issued or delivered as anticipated, and the seller loses the opportunity to benefit if the price of the security rises. When-issued, delayed delivery, and forward commitment transactions can involve leverage.
Corporate Bonds: Corporate bonds are debt instruments issued by corporations or similar entities.
Inflation-Adjusted Debt Instruments: Inflation-adjusted debt instruments are debt instruments whose principal and/or interest are adjusted for inflation. Inflation-adjusted debt instruments issued by the U.S. Treasury pay a fixed rate of interest that is applied to an inflation-adjusted principal amount. The principal amount is adjusted based on changes in the Consumer Price Index. The principal due at maturity is typically equal to the inflation-adjusted principal amount, or to the instrument's original par value, whichever is greater. Other types of inflation-adjusted debt instruments may use other methods of adjusting for inflation, and other measures of inflation. Other issuers of inflation-adjusted debt instruments include U.S. Government agencies, instrumentalities and sponsored entities, U.S. and foreign corporations, and foreign governments.
Derivatives: Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is based on the value of one or more underlying indicators or the difference between underlying indicators. Underlying indicators may include a security or other financial instrument, asset, currency, interest rate, credit rating, commodity, volatility measure, or index. Derivatives often involve a counterparty to the transaction. Derivatives include futures, forward contracts, options, structured securities.
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
Principal Risks
The share price of the fund will change daily based on changes in market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions. As with any mutual fund, the fund may not achieve its objective and/or you could lose money on your investment in the fund. An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. The significance of any specific risk to an investment in the fund will vary over time depending on the composition of the fund's portfolio, market conditions, and other factors. You should read all of the risk information below carefully, because any one or more of these risks may result in losses to the fund.
The principal risks of investing in the fund are:
Investment Selection Risk: MFS' investment analysis and its selection of investments may not produce the intended results and/or can lead to an investment focus that results in the fund underperforming other funds with similar investment strategies and/or underperforming the markets in which the fund invests. In addition, MFS or the fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the fund.
Debt Market Risk: Debt markets can be volatile and can decline significantly in response to, or investor perceptions of, issuer, market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions. These conditions can affect a single instrument, issuer, or borrower, a particular type of instrument, issuer, or borrower, a segment of the debt markets, or debt markets generally. Certain changes or events, such as political, social, or economic developments, including increasing and negative interest rates or the U.S. government's inability at times to agree on a long-term budget and deficit reduction plan (which has in the past resulted and may in the future result in a government shutdown); market closures and/or trading halts; government or regulatory actions, including the imposition of tariffs or other protectionist actions and changes in fiscal, monetary, or tax policies; natural disasters; outbreaks of pandemic and epidemic diseases; terrorist attacks; war; and other geopolitical changes or events can have a dramatic adverse effect on debt markets and may lead to periods of high volatility and reduced liquidity in a debt market or a segment of a debt market.
Interest Rate Risk: The price of a debt instrument typically changes in response to interest rate changes. Interest rates can change in response to the supply and demand for credit, government and/or central bank monetary policy and action, inflation rates, general economic and market conditions, and other factors. In general, the price of a debt instrument falls when interest rates rise and rises when interest rates fall. The current period of historically low interest rates may heighten the risks associated with rising interest rates because there may be a greater likelihood of interest rates increasing and interest rates may increase rapidly. Interest rate risk is generally greater for fixed-rate instruments than floating-rate instruments and for instruments with longer maturities, or that do not pay current interest. In addition, short-term and long-term interest rates do not necessarily move in the same direction or by the same amount. An instrument's reaction to interest rate changes depends on the timing of its interest and principal payments and the current interest rate for each of those time periods. The price of an instrument trading at a negative interest rate responds to
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
interest rate changes like other debt instruments; however, an instrument purchased at a negative interest rate is expected to produce a negative return if held to maturity. To the extent the fund invests in fixed-rate instruments, fluctuations in the market price of such investments may not affect interest income derived from those instruments, but may nonetheless affect the fund's share price, especially if the instrument has a longer maturity.
Inflation-adjusted debt instruments tend to react to changes in "real" interest rates. "Real" interest rates represent nominal interest rates reduced by the inflation rate.
Credit Risk: The price of a debt instrument depends, in part, on the issuer's or borrower's credit quality or ability to pay principal and interest when due. The price of a debt instrument is likely to fall if an issuer or borrower defaults on its obligation to pay principal or interest, if the instrument's credit rating is downgraded by a credit rating agency, or based on other changes in, or perceptions of, the financial condition of the issuer or borrower. For certain types of instruments, including derivatives, the price of the instrument depends in part on the credit quality of the counterparty to the transaction. For other types of debt instruments, including securitized instruments, the price of the debt instrument also depends on the credit quality and adequacy of the underlying assets or collateral as well as whether there is a security interest in the underlying assets or collateral. Enforcing rights, if any, against the underlying assets or collateral may be difficult.
Government securities not supported as to the payment of principal or interest by the full faith and credit of the government are subject to greater credit risk than are government securities supported by the full faith and credit of the government.
Foreign Risk: Investments in securities of foreign issuers, securities of companies with significant foreign exposure, and foreign currencies can involve additional risks relating to market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions. Political, social, diplomatic, and economic developments, U.S. and foreign government action such as the imposition of currency or capital blockages, controls, or tariffs, economic and trade sanctions or embargoes, security trading suspensions, entering or exiting trade or other intergovernmental agreements, or the expropriation or nationalization of assets in a particular country, can cause dramatic declines in certain or all securities with exposure to that country and other countries. In the event of nationalization, expropriation, confiscation or other government action, intervention, or restriction, the fund could lose its entire investment in a particular foreign issuer or country. Economies and financial markets are interconnected, which increases the likelihood that conditions in one country or region can adversely impact issuers in different countries and regions. Less stringent regulatory, accounting, auditing, and disclosure requirements for issuers and markets are more common in certain foreign countries. Enforcing legal rights can be difficult, costly, and slow in certain foreign countries and with respect to certain types of investments, and can be particularly difficult against foreign governments. Changes in currency exchange rates can significantly impact the financial condition of a company or other issuer with exposure to multiple countries as well as affect the U.S. dollar value of foreign currency investments and investments denominated in foreign currencies. Additional risks of foreign investments include trading, settlement, custodial, and other operational risks, and withholding and other taxes. These factors can make foreign investments, especially those tied economically to emerging and frontier markets
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
(emerging markets that are early in their development), more volatile and less liquid than U.S. investments. In addition, foreign markets can react differently to market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions than the U.S. market.
Emerging Markets Risk: Investments tied economically to emerging markets, especially frontier markets, can involve additional and greater risks than the risks associated with investments in developed markets. Emerging markets typically have less developed economies and markets, greater custody and operational risk, less developed legal, regulatory, and accounting systems, less trading volume, less stringent investor protection and disclosure standards, less reliable settlement practices, greater government involvement in the economy, and greater risk of new or inconsistent government treatment of or restrictions on issuers and instruments than developed countries. Financial and other disclosures by emerging market issuers may be considerably less reliable than disclosures made by issuers in developed markets. In addition, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which regulates auditors of U.S. public companies, is unable to inspect audit work papers in certain emerging market countries. Emerging markets can also be subject to greater political, social, geopolitical, and economic instability and more susceptible to environmental problems. In addition, many emerging market countries with less established health care systems have experienced outbreaks of pandemics or contagious diseases from time to time. These factors can make emerging market investments more volatile and less liquid than investments in developed markets.
Currency Risk: Changes in currency exchange rates can significantly impact the financial condition of a company or other issuer with exposure to multiple countries. In addition, a decline in the value of a foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar reduces the value of the foreign currency and investments denominated in that currency. In addition, the use of foreign exchange contracts to reduce foreign currency exposure can eliminate some or all of the benefit of an increase in the value of a foreign currency versus the U.S. dollar. The value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar fluctuates in response to, among other factors, interest rate changes, intervention (or failure to intervene) by the U.S. or foreign governments, central banks, or supranational entities such as the International Monetary Fund, the imposition of currency controls, and other political or regulatory conditions in the U.S. or abroad. Foreign currency values can decrease significantly both in the short term and over the long term in response to these and other conditions.
Focus Risk: Issuers in a single country or region can react similarly to market, currency, political, economic, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions. These conditions include business environment changes; economic factors such as fiscal, monetary, and tax policies; inflation and unemployment rates; and government and regulatory changes. The fund's performance will be affected by the conditions in the countries and regions to which the fund is exposed. If MFS invests a significant percentage of the fund's assets in a single issuer or small number of issuers, the fund's performance will be affected by economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions that impact that one issuer or issuers, could be closely tied to the value of that issuer or issuers, and could be more volatile than the performance of more diversified funds.
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
Prepayment/Extension Risk: Many types of debt instruments, including mortgage-backed securities, securitized instruments, certain corporate bonds, and municipal housing bonds, and certain derivatives, are subject to the risk of prepayment and/or extension. Prepayment occurs when unscheduled payments of principal are made or the instrument is called or redeemed prior to an instrument's maturity. When interest rates decline, the instrument is called, or for other reasons, these debt instruments may be repaid more quickly than expected. As a result, the holder of the debt instrument may not be able to reinvest the proceeds at the same interest rate or on the same terms, reducing the potential for gain. When interest rates increase or for other reasons, these debt instruments may be repaid more slowly than expected, increasing the potential for loss. In addition, prepayment rates are difficult to predict and the potential impact of prepayment on the price of a debt instrument depends on the terms of the instrument.
Inflation-Adjusted Debt Instruments Risk: Interest payments on inflation-adjusted debt instruments can be unpredictable and vary based on the level of inflation. If inflation is negative, principal and income both can decline. In addition, the measure of inflation used may not correspond to the actual rate of inflation experienced by a particular individual.
Managed Distribution Plan Risk: The fund may not be able to maintain a monthly distribution at an annual fixed rate of up to 7.25% of the fund's average monthly net asset value due to many factors, including but not limited to, changes in market returns, fluctuations in market interest rates, and other factors. If income from the fund's investments is less than the amount needed to make a monthly distribution, portfolio investments may be sold at less than opportune times to fund the distribution. Distributions that are treated as tax return of capital will have the effect of reducing the fund's assets and could increase the fund's expense ratio. If a portion of the fund's distributions represents returns of capital over extended periods, the fund's assets may be reduced over time to levels where the fund is no longer viable and might be liquidated.
Leveraging Risk: If the fund utilizes investment leverage, there can be no assurance that such a leveraging strategy will be successful during any period in which it is employed. The use of leverage is a speculative investment technique that results in greater volatility in the fund's net asset value. To the extent that investments are purchased with the proceeds from the borrowings from a bank, the issuance of preferred shares, or the creation of tender option bonds, the fund's net asset value will increase or decrease at a greater rate than a comparable unleveraged fund. If the investment income or gains earned from the investments purchased with the proceeds from the borrowings from a bank, the issuance of preferred shares, or the creation of tender option bonds, fails to cover the expenses of leveraging, the fund's net asset value is likely to decrease more quickly than if the fund weren't leveraged. In addition, the fund's distributions could be reduced. The fund is currently required under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act") to maintain asset coverage of 200% on outstanding preferred shares and 300% on outstanding indebtedness. The fund may be required to sell a portion of its investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so in order to redeem preferred shares or to reduce outstanding indebtedness to comply with asset coverage or other restrictions including those imposed by the 1940 Act and the rating agencies that rate the preferred shares. The expenses of leveraging are paid by the holders of common shares. Borrowings from a
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
bank or preferred shares may have a stated maturity. If this leverage is not extended prior to maturity or replaced with the same or a different form of leverage, distributions to common shareholders may be decreased.
Certain transactions and investment strategies can result in leverage. Because movements in a fund's share price generally correlate over time with the fund's net asset value, the market price of a leveraged fund will also tend to be more volatile than that of a comparable unleveraged fund. The costs of an offering of preferred shares and/or borrowing program would be borne by shareholders.
Under the terms of any loan agreement or of a purchase agreement between the fund and the investor in the preferred shares, as the case may be, the fund may be required to, among other things, limit its ability to pay distributions in certain circumstances, incur additional debts, engage in certain transactions, and pledge some or all of its assets. Such agreements could limit the fund's ability to pursue its investment strategies. The terms of any loan agreement or purchase agreement could be more or less restrictive than those described.
Under guidelines generally required by a rating agency providing a rating for any preferred shares, the fund may be required to, among other things, maintain certain asset coverage requirements, restrict certain investments and practices, and adopt certain redemption requirements relating to preferred shares. Such guidelines or the terms of a purchase agreement between a fund and the investor in the preferred shares could limit the fund's ability to pursue its investment strategies. The guidelines imposed with respect to preferred shares by a rating agency or an investor in the preferred shares could be more or less restrictive than those described.
Derivatives Risk: Derivatives can be highly volatile and involve risks in addition to, and potentially greater than, the risks of the underlying indicator(s). Gains or losses from derivatives can be substantially greater than the derivatives' original cost and can sometimes be unlimited. Derivatives can involve leverage. Derivatives can be complex instruments and can involve analysis and processing that differs from that required for other investment types used by the fund. If the value of a derivative does not change as expected relative to the value of the market or other indicator to which the derivative is intended to provide exposure, the derivative may not have the effect intended. Derivatives can also reduce the opportunity for gains or result in losses by offsetting positive returns in other investments. Derivatives can be less liquid than other types of investments.
Anti-Takeover Provisions Risk: The fund's declaration of trust includes provisions that could limit the ability of other persons or entities to acquire control of the fund, to convert the fund to an open-end fund, or to change the composition of the fund's Board of Trustees. These provisions could reduce the opportunities for shareholders to sell their shares at a premium over the then-current market price.
Market Discount/Premium Risk: The market price of shares of the fund will be based on factors such as the supply and demand for shares in the market and general market, economic, industry, political or regulatory conditions. Whether shareholders will realize gains or losses upon the sale of shares of the fund will depend on the market price of shares at the time of the sale, not on the fund's net asset value. The market price may be lower or higher than the fund's net asset value. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to their net asset value.
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
Counterparty and Third Party Risk: Transactions involving a counterparty other than the issuer of the instrument, including clearing organizations, or a third party responsible for servicing the instrument or effecting the transaction, are subject to the credit risk of the counterparty or third party, and to the counterparty's or third party's ability or willingness to perform in accordance with the terms of the transaction. If a counterparty or third party fails to meet its contractual obligations, goes bankrupt, or otherwise experiences a business interruption, the fund could miss investment opportunities, lose value on its investments, or otherwise hold investments it would prefer to sell, resulting in losses for the fund.
Liquidity Risk: Certain investments and types of investments are subject to restrictions on resale, may trade in the over-the-counter market, or may not have an active trading market due to adverse market, economic, industry, political, regulatory, geopolitical, environmental, public health, and other conditions, including investors trying to sell large quantities of a particular investment or type of investment, or lack of market makers or other buyers for a particular investment or type of investment. At times, all or a significant portion of a market may not have an active trading market. Without an active trading market, it may be difficult to value, and it may not be possible to sell, these investments and the fund could miss other investment opportunities and hold investments it would prefer to sell, resulting in losses for the fund. In addition, the fund may have to sell certain of these investments at prices or times that are not advantageous in order to meet redemptions or other cash needs, which could result in dilution of remaining investors' interests in the fund. The prices of illiquid securities may be more volatile than more liquid investments.
Defensive Investing Risk: When MFS invests defensively, different factors could affect the fund's performance and the fund may not achieve its investment objective. In addition, the defensive strategy may not work as intended.
Frequent Trading Risk: Frequent trading increases transaction costs, which may reduce the Fund's return. Frequent trading can also result in the realization of a higher percentage of short-term capital gains and a lower percentage of long-term capital gains as compared to a fund that trades less frequently. Because short-term capital gains are distributed as ordinary income, this would generally increase your tax liability unless you hold your shares through a tax-advantaged or tax-exempt vehicle.
Investment Restrictions
The Fund has adopted the following policies which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of its shares as defined currently in the 1940 Act to be the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a meeting at which holders of voting securities representing more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities ("Majority Shareholder Vote"). Except for fundamental investment restriction (1), these investment restrictions are adhered to at the time of purchase or utilization of assets; a subsequent change in circumstances will not be considered to result in a violation of policy.
The Fund may not:
| (1) | borrow money or issue any senior security except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act or exemptive orders granted under such Act, or otherwise permitted from time to time by regulatory authority having jurisdiction. |
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Investment Objective, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks - continued
| (2) | underwrite securities issued by other persons, except that all or any portion of the assets of the Fund may be invested in one or more investment companies, to the extent not prohibited by the 1940 Act and exemptive orders granted under such Act, and except insofar as the Fund may technically be deemed an underwriter under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, in selling a portfolio security. |
| (3) | issue any senior securities except to the extent not prohibited by the 1940 Act and exemptive orders granted under such Act. For purposes of this restriction, collateral arrangements with respect to any type of swap, option, Forward Contracts and Futures Contracts and collateral arrangements with respect to initial and variation margin are not deemed to be the issuance of a senior security. |
| (4) | make loans except to the extent not prohibited by the 1940 Act and exemptive orders granted under such Act. |
| (5) | purchase or sell real estate (excluding securities secured by real estate or interests therein and securities of companies, such as real estate investment trusts, which deal in real estate or interests therein), interests in oil, gas or mineral leases, commodities or commodity contacts (excluding currencies and any type of option, Futures Contracts and Forward Contracts) in the ordinary course of its business. The Fund reserves the freedom of action to hold and to sell real estate, mineral leases, commodities or commodity contracts (including currencies and any type of option, Futures Contracts and Forward Contracts) acquired as a result of the ownership of securities. |
| (6) | purchase any securities of an issuer in a particular industry if as a result 25% or more of its total assets (taken at market value at the time of purchase) would be invested in securities of issuers whose principal business activities are in the same industry. |
For purposes of investment restriction (5), investments in certain types of derivative instruments whose value is related to commodities or commodity contracts, including swaps and structured notes, are not considered commodities or commodity contracts.
For purposes of fundamental investment restriction (6), investments in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government or its agencies or instrumentalities and tax-exempt obligations issued or guaranteed by a U.S. territory or possession, a state or local government, or a political subdivision of any of the foregoing, are not considered an investment in any particular industry.
For purposes of fundamental investment restriction (6), investments in other investment companies are not considered an investment in any particular industry and portfolio securities held by an underlying fund in which the Fund may invest are not considered to be securities purchased by the Fund.
For purposes of fundamental investment restriction (6), MFS uses a customized set of industry groups for classifying securities based on classifications developed by third party providers.
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Portfolio Managers' Profiles
| Portfolio Manager | Primary Role | Since | Title and Five Year History |
| Geoffrey Schechter | Lead and U.S. Government Securities Portfolio Manager | 2006 | Investment Officer of MFS; employed in the investment management area of MFS since 1993. |
| Neeraj Arora | Emerging Markets Debt Instruments Portfolio Manager | May 2021 | Investment Officer of MFS; employed in the investment management area of MFS since 2011. |
| Alexander Mackey | Investment Grade Debt Instruments Portfolio Manager | May 2021 | Investment Officer of MFS; employed in the investment management area of MFS since 2001. |
The following information in this annual report is a summary of certain changes since November 30, 2020. This information may not reflect all of the changes that have occurred since you purchased this fund.
Effective May 31, 2021, Neeraj Arora and Alexander Mackey were added as Portfolio Managers of the fund. Effective June 30, 2021, Ward Brown, Robert Persons, and Matt Ryan are no longer Portfolio Managers of the fund.
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Dividend Reinvestment And Cash Purchase Plan
The fund offers a Dividend Reinvestment and Cash Purchase Plan (the "Plan") that allows common shareholders to reinvest either all of the distributions paid by the fund or only the long-term capital gains. Generally, purchases are made at the market price unless that price exceeds the net asset value (the shares are trading at a premium). If the shares are trading at a premium, the fund will issue shares at a price of either the net asset value or 95% of the market price, whichever is greater. You can also buy shares on a quarterly basis in any amount $100 and over. Computershare Trust Company, N.A. (the Transfer Agent for the fund) (the "Plan Agent") will purchase shares under the Plan on the 15th of January, April, July, and October or shortly thereafter. You may obtain a copy of the Plan by contacting the Plan Agent at 1-800-637-2304 any business day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time or by visiting the Plan Agent's Web site at www.computershare.com/investor.
If shares are registered in your own name, new shareholders will automatically participate in the Plan, unless you have indicated that you do not wish to participate. If your shares are in the name of a brokerage firm, bank, or other nominee, you can ask the firm or nominee to participate in the Plan on your behalf. If the nominee does not offer the Plan, you may wish to request that your shares be re-registered in your own name so that you can participate. There is no service charge to reinvest distributions, nor are there brokerage charges for shares issued directly by the fund. However, when shares are bought on the New York Stock Exchange or otherwise on the open market, each participant pays a pro rata share of the transaction expenses, including commissions. The tax status of dividends and capital gain distributions does not change whether received in cash or reinvested in additional shares - the automatic reinvestment of distributions does not relieve you of any income tax that may be payable (or required to be withheld) on the distributions.
If your shares are held directly with the Plan Agent, you may withdraw from the Plan at any time by contacting the Plan Agent. Please have available the name of the fund and your account number. For certain types of registrations, such as corporate accounts, instructions must be submitted in writing. Please call for additional details. When you withdraw from the Plan, you can receive the value of the reinvested shares in one of three ways: your full shares will be held in your account, the Plan Agent will sell your shares and send the proceeds to you, or you may transfer your full shares to your investment professional who can hold or sell them. Additionally, the Plan Agent will sell your fractional shares and send the proceeds to you.
If you have any questions, contact the Plan Agent by calling 1-800-637-2304, visit the Plan Agent's Web site at www.computershare.com/investor, or by writing to the Plan Agent at P.O. Box 505005, Louisville, KY 40233-5005.
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Portfolio of Investments
11/30/21
The Portfolio of Investments is a complete list of all securities owned by your fund. It is categorized by broad-based asset classes.
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - 107.1% | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - 100.7% | ||||
| Aerospace & Defense - 0.5% | ||||
| Boeing Co., 1.433%, 2/04/2024 | $ | 750,000 | $ 750,058 | |
| Asset-Backed & Securitized - 6.1% | ||||
| 3650R Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2021-PF1, "XA", 1.038%, 11/15/2054 (i) | $ | 1,184,057 | $ 86,963 | |
| ACREC Ltd., 2021-FL1, "AS", FLR, 1.589% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.5%), 10/16/2036 (n) | 323,500 | 323,123 | ||
| ACREC Ltd., 2021-FL1, "B", FLR, 1.888% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.8%), 10/16/2036 (n) | 251,000 | 251,059 | ||
| Allegro CLO Ltd., 2016-1A, "BR2", FLR, 1.673% (LIBOR - 3mo. + 1.55%), 1/15/2030 (n) | 250,000 | 250,012 | ||
| Arbor Realty Trust, Inc., CLO, 2021-FL1, "B", FLR, 1.589% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.5%), 12/15/2035 (n) | 175,500 | 174,622 | ||
| Arbor Realty Trust, Inc., CLO, 2021-FL3, "AS", FLR, 1.489% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.4%), 8/15/2034 (n) | 374,500 | 372,649 | ||
| Bancorp Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2019-CRE6, "A", FLR, 1.214% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.05%), 9/15/2036 (n) | 14,080 | 14,069 | ||
| BBCMS Mortgage Trust, 2021-C10, "XA", 1.431%, 7/15/2054 (i) | 1,186,564 | 113,521 | ||
| BBCMS Mortgage Trust, 2021-C9, "XA", 1.764%, 2/15/2054 (i) | 995,502 | 118,411 | ||
| BDS Ltd., 2021-FL9, "A", 1.159%, 11/16/2038 (n) | 321,500 | 320,720 | ||
| Benchmark Mortgage Trust, 2021-B23, "XA", 1.383%, 2/15/2054 (i) | 1,985,678 | 180,099 | ||
| Benchmark Mortgage Trust, 2021-B24, "XA", 1.273%, 3/15/2054 (i) | 1,172,535 | 96,752 | ||
| Benchmark Mortgage Trust, 2021-B26, "XA", 0.999%, 6/15/2054 (i) | 1,597,867 | 105,078 | ||
| Benchmark Mortgage Trust, 2021-B27, "XA", 1.388%, 7/15/2054 (i) | 1,462,539 | 138,338 | ||
| Benchmark Mortgage Trust, 2021-B28, "XA", 1.404%, 8/15/2054 (i) | 2,220,150 | 211,181 | ||
| Benchmark Mortgage Trust, 2021-B29, "XA", 1.16%, 9/15/2054 (i)(n) | 1,899,197 | 142,938 | ||
| BPCRE Holder LLC, FLR, 0.938% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 0.85%), 2/15/2037 (n) | 56,299 | 56,204 | ||
| BPCRE Holder LLC, FLR, 1.638% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.55%), 2/15/2037 (n) | 100,000 | 99,937 | ||
| BSPDF 2021-FL1 Issuer Ltd., "A", 1.289%, 10/15/2036 (n) | 200,500 | 200,500 | ||
| BSPDF 2021-FL1 Issuer Ltd., "AS", FLR, 1.569% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.48%), 10/15/2036 (n) | 253,500 | 253,500 |
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Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Asset-Backed & Securitized - continued | ||||
| BXMT Ltd., 2021-FL4, "AS", FLR, 1.389% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.3%), 5/15/2038 (n) | $ | 345,000 | $ 345,010 | |
| Capital Automotive, 2020-1A, "A4", REIT, 3.19%, 2/15/2050 (n) | 99,729 | 100,702 | ||
| Citigroup Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2019-XA, "C7", 1.001%, 12/15/2072 (i)(n) | 1,434,982 | 84,559 | ||
| COMM 2013-WWP Mortgage Trust, 3.897%, 3/10/2031 (n) | 564,000 | 582,892 | ||
| Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, 2021-BN31, "XA", 1.441%, 2/15/2054 (i) | 1,531,988 | 151,526 | ||
| Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, 2021-BN32, "XA", 0.892%, 4/15/2054 (i) | 998,827 | 57,587 | ||
| Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, 2021-BN35, "XA", 1.158%, 6/15/2064 (i) | 998,893 | 79,450 | ||
| Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2015-DC1, "A5", 3.35%, 2/10/2048 | 177,000 | 186,292 | ||
| GS Mortgage Securities Trust, 2015-GC32, "A2", 3.062%, 7/10/2048 | 32,351 | 32,793 | ||
| LoanCore Ltd., 2021-CRE5, "AS", FLR, 1.839% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.75%), 7/15/2036 (n) | 283,500 | 283,586 | ||
| LoanCore Ltd., 2021-CRE6, "AS", FLR, 1.739% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.65%), 11/15/2038 (n) | 500,000 | 500,000 | ||
| Madison Park Funding Ltd., 2014-13A, "BR2", FLR, 1.623% (LIBOR - 3mo. + 1.5%), 4/19/2030 (n) | 452,738 | 454,752 | ||
| MF1 CLO Ltd., 2021-FL5, "AS", FLR, 1.362% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.2%), 7/15/2036 (n) | 173,500 | 173,343 | ||
| MF1 CLO Ltd., 2021-FL5, "B", FLR, 1.612% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.45%), 7/15/2036 (n) | 279,500 | 279,332 | ||
| MF1 Multi-Family Housing Mortgage Loan Trust, 2020-FL4, "A", FLR, 1.862% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.7%), 11/15/2035 (n) | 229,000 | 229,925 | ||
| Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, 2018-H4, "XA", 1.023%, 12/15/2051 (i) | 1,636,394 | 81,698 | ||
| Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, 2021-L5, "XA", 1.424%, 5/15/2054 (i) | 738,903 | 68,943 | ||
| Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, 2021-L6, "XA", 1.354%, 6/15/2054 (i) | 1,152,250 | 97,713 | ||
| Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust, 2021-L7, "XA", 1.222%, 10/15/2054 (i) | 3,382,908 | 270,489 | ||
| PFP III Ltd., 2021-7, "AS", FLR, 1.241% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.15%), 4/14/2038 (n) | 311,484 | 309,954 | ||
| ReadyCap Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2021-FL7, "A", FLR, 1.28% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.2%), 11/25/2036 (z) | 220,000 | 219,794 | ||
| ReadyCap Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2021-FL7, "AS", FLR, 1.58% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.5%), 11/25/2036 (z) | 100,000 | 100,000 |
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Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Asset-Backed & Securitized - continued | ||||
| Symphony CLO Ltd., 2016-17A, "BR", FLR, 1.324% (LIBOR - 3mo. + 1.2%), 4/15/2028 (n) | $ | 383,677 | $ 382,577 | |
| Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2018-C48, "XA", 1.12%, 1/15/2052 (i)(n) | 937,595 | 54,672 | ||
| $8,637,265 | ||||
| Automotive - 0.2% | ||||
| Hyundai Capital America, 2.85%, 11/01/2022 (n) | $ | 233,000 | $ 237,382 | |
| Hyundai Capital America, 2.375%, 2/10/2023 (n) | 115,000 | 116,900 | ||
| $354,282 | ||||
| Broadcasting - 0.7% | ||||
| Discovery, Inc., 4.65%, 5/15/2050 | $ | 229,000 | $ 271,505 | |
| Walt Disney Co., 3.5%, 5/13/2040 | 612,000 | 674,584 | ||
| $946,089 | ||||
| Building - 0.1% | ||||
| Martin Marietta Materials, Inc., 4.25%, 7/02/2024 | $ | 82,000 | $ 88,070 | |
| Cable TV - 0.3% | ||||
| Charter Communications Operating LLC/Charter Communications Operating Capital Corp., 4.908%, 7/23/2025 | $ | 242,000 | $ 266,987 | |
| Time Warner Cable, Inc., 4.5%, 9/15/2042 | 100,000 | 109,924 | ||
| $376,911 | ||||
| Consumer Services - 0.1% | ||||
| Conservation Fund, 3.474%, 12/15/2029 | $ | 159,000 | $ 168,739 | |
| Electronics - 0.5% | ||||
| Broadcom, Inc., 3.187%, 11/15/2036 (n) | $ | 750,000 | $ 738,420 | |
| Energy - Integrated - 0.5% | ||||
| Exxon Mobil Corp., 3.452%, 4/15/2051 | $ | 714,000 | $ 779,915 | |
| Food & Beverages - 1.8% | ||||
| Constellation Brands, Inc., 4.65%, 11/15/2028 | $ | 1,500,000 | $ 1,716,457 | |
| Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc., 3.8%, 5/01/2050 | 650,000 | 725,135 | ||
| Tyson Foods, Inc., 5.15%, 8/15/2044 | 38,000 | 49,858 | ||
| $2,491,450 |
22
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Industrial - 0.1% | ||||
| Howard University, Washington D.C., 2.738%, 10/01/2022 | $ | 28,000 | $ 28,237 | |
| Howard University, Washington D.C., 2.801%, 10/01/2023 | 31,000 | 31,744 | ||
| Howard University, Washington D.C., AGM, 2.416%, 10/01/2024 | 33,000 | 33,439 | ||
| Howard University, Washington D.C., AGM, 2.516%, 10/01/2025 | 42,000 | 42,247 | ||
| $135,667 | ||||
| Insurance - Health - 0.6% | ||||
| UnitedHealth Group, Inc., 4.625%, 7/15/2035 | $ | 672,000 | $ 833,078 | |
| Insurance - Property & Casualty - 0.2% | ||||
| American International Group, Inc., 4.7%, 7/10/2035 | $ | 108,000 | $ 130,246 | |
| Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., 3.951%, 10/15/2050 (n) | 99,000 | 112,972 | ||
| $243,218 | ||||
| Machinery & Tools - 0.5% | ||||
| CNH Industrial Capital LLC, 4.2%, 1/15/2024 | $ | 625,000 | $ 662,380 | |
| Major Banks - 2.3% | ||||
| Bank of America Corp., 3.004%, 12/20/2023 | $ | 183,000 | $ 187,123 | |
| Bank of America Corp., 2.687% to 4/22/2031, FLR (SOFR + 1.32%) to 4/22/2032 | 750,000 | 759,474 | ||
| Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 3.625%, 1/22/2023 | 241,000 | 248,865 | ||
| JPMorgan Chase & Co., 2.58% to 4/22/2031, FLR (SOFR + 1.25%) to 4/22/2032 | 750,000 | 756,321 | ||
| JPMorgan Chase & Co., 3.109% to 4/22/2050, FLR (SOFR + 2.44%) to 4/22/2051 | 485,000 | 511,206 | ||
| Morgan Stanley, 3.622% to 4/01/2030, FLR (SOFR + 3.12%) to 4/01/2031 | 588,000 | 641,970 | ||
| State Street Corp., 3.152% to 3/30/2030, FLR (SOFR + 2.65%) to 3/30/2031 | 138,000 | 149,895 | ||
| $3,254,854 | ||||
| Medical & Health Technology & Services - 1.1% | ||||
| Becton, Dickinson and Co., 4.685%, 12/15/2044 | $ | 140,000 | $ 174,760 | |
| Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, 4.7%, 2/01/2045 | 106,000 | 130,772 | ||
| Montefiore Obligated Group, AGM, 5.246%, 11/01/2048 | 614,000 | 812,386 | ||
| ProMedica Toledo Hospital, "B", AGM, 5.325%, 11/15/2028 | 250,000 | 295,849 | ||
| ProMedica Toledo Hospital, "B", AGM, 5.75%, 11/15/2038 | 175,000 | 206,243 | ||
| $1,620,010 |
23
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Mortgage-Backed - 38.5% | ||||
| Fannie Mae, 2.152%, 1/25/2023 | $ | 122,669 | $ 123,940 | |
| Fannie Mae, 2.41%, 5/01/2023 | 115,014 | 117,002 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 2.55%, 5/01/2023 | 98,731 | 100,575 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 2.7%, 7/01/2025 | 200,000 | 209,486 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 4%, 3/25/2028 - 7/01/2047 | 2,797,501 | 3,054,688 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 3%, 11/01/2028 - 5/25/2053 | 2,175,168 | 2,283,238 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 6.5%, 5/01/2031 - 1/01/2037 | 230,238 | 260,386 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 2.5%, 11/01/2031 - 10/01/2046 | 320,235 | 328,068 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 3.5%, 12/25/2031 - 2/25/2036 (i) | 100,423 | 9,902 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 3%, 2/25/2033 (i) | 142,893 | 14,003 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 5.5%, 10/01/2033 - 3/01/2038 | 1,322,851 | 1,519,033 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 6%, 8/01/2034 - 7/01/2037 | 380,908 | 436,324 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 5%, 6/01/2035 - 3/01/2042 | 324,851 | 369,213 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 3.5%, 4/01/2038 - 7/01/2046 | 1,249,520 | 1,339,641 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 2%, 10/25/2040 - 4/25/2046 | 179,959 | 182,247 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 4.5%, 2/01/2041 - 11/01/2042 | 486,194 | 537,152 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 1.75%, 9/25/2041 - 10/25/2041 | 492,942 | 498,296 | ||
| Fannie Mae, 2.75%, 9/25/2042 | 134,859 | 139,145 | ||
| Fannie Mae, UMBS, 2.5%, 2/01/2050 - 12/01/2051 | 728,335 | 751,488 | ||
| Fannie Mae, UMBS, 2%, 1/01/2051 - 2/01/2051 | 200,376 | 201,659 | ||
| Fannie Mae, UMBS, 3%, 12/01/2051 | 130,306 | 135,810 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 3.32%, 2/25/2023 | 429,768 | 441,920 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 3.06%, 7/25/2023 | 294,000 | 303,920 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 3.458%, 8/25/2023 | 367,000 | 381,977 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.031%, 4/25/2024 (i) | 3,421,732 | 60,869 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.732%, 7/25/2024 (i) | 4,638,090 | 51,244 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 3.064%, 8/25/2024 | 485,094 | 505,726 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 4.5%, 9/01/2024 - 5/01/2042 | 351,963 | 388,309 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 2.67%, 12/25/2024 | 827,000 | 862,108 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 2.811%, 1/25/2025 | 642,000 | 672,681 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 3.5%, 1/15/2027 - 10/25/2058 | 3,026,650 | 3,240,171 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.481%, 3/25/2027 (i) | 391,000 | 26,653 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.711%, 7/25/2027 (i) | 8,507,428 | 251,628 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.429%, 8/25/2027 (i) | 6,633,457 | 151,338 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.427%, 1/25/2028 (i) | 12,157,954 | 219,985 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.434%, 1/25/2028 (i) | 5,006,935 | 93,225 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.269%, 2/25/2028 (i) | 14,104,984 | 134,102 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 2.5%, 3/15/2028 | 43,172 | 43,751 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.263%, 4/25/2028 (i) | 9,043,076 | 80,210 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 3%, 6/15/2028 - 2/25/2059 | 2,241,283 | 2,358,760 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.218%, 7/25/2029 (i) | 1,260,521 | 93,864 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.267%, 8/25/2029 (i) | 2,556,029 | 199,666 |
24
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Mortgage-Backed - continued | ||||
| Freddie Mac, 1.915%, 4/25/2030 (i) | $ | 600,527 | $ 82,653 | |
| Freddie Mac, 1.985%, 4/25/2030 (i) | 1,277,474 | 182,590 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.766%, 5/25/2030 (i) | 612,877 | 79,069 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.796%, 5/25/2030 (i) | 1,389,954 | 192,968 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.436%, 6/25/2030 (i) | 559,633 | 58,824 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.704%, 8/25/2030 (i) | 633,757 | 80,329 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.263%, 9/25/2030 (i) | 314,905 | 29,828 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.172%, 11/25/2030 (i) | 789,331 | 70,203 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.423%, 1/25/2031 (i) | 2,864,046 | 75,117 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.873%, 1/25/2031 (i) | 873,865 | 57,960 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.936%, 1/25/2031 (i) | 663,744 | 52,059 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.625%, 3/25/2031 (i) | 2,286,004 | 98,204 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.836%, 3/25/2031 (i) | 973,113 | 62,303 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.333%, 5/25/2031 (i) | 399,402 | 42,025 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 1.039%, 7/25/2031 (i) | 489,989 | 40,967 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.536%, 9/25/2031 (i) | 2,619,786 | 128,845 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.955%, 9/25/2031 (i) | 808,717 | 61,730 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 0.349%, 11/25/2031 (i) | 3,899,181 | 126,995 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 6%, 5/01/2035 - 10/01/2038 | 204,632 | 238,587 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 5.5%, 8/01/2035 - 6/01/2036 | 214,879 | 247,788 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 5%, 2/15/2036 - 12/01/2044 | 887,328 | 1,009,823 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 5.5%, 2/15/2036 (i) | 35,282 | 6,358 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 2%, 8/15/2036 | 259,009 | 261,607 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 6.5%, 5/01/2037 | 43,115 | 49,522 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 4%, 8/01/2037 - 4/01/2044 | 229,739 | 252,454 | ||
| Freddie Mac, 4.5%, 12/15/2040 (i) | 10,893 | 1,046 | ||
| Freddie Mac, UMBS, 2.5%, 10/01/2051 - 12/01/2051 | 399,291 | 411,938 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 5.5%, 7/15/2033 - 1/20/2042 | 435,244 | 503,325 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 5.699%, 8/20/2034 | 102,503 | 115,805 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 4%, 5/16/2039 - 7/20/2049 | 290,431 | 310,838 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 4.5%, 9/20/2041 | 128,992 | 141,759 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 3.5%, 10/20/2041 (i) | 55,155 | 3,774 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 3.5%, 4/15/2042 - 7/20/2043 | 862,042 | 926,364 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 2.5%, 6/20/2042 - 11/20/2051 | 1,413,252 | 1,453,861 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 4%, 8/16/2042 (i) | 52,572 | 6,857 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 2.25%, 9/20/2043 | 48,248 | 48,749 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 3%, 4/20/2045 - 11/20/2051 | 1,654,168 | 1,723,453 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 5.87%, 4/20/2058 | 6,240 | 6,991 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, 0.557%, 2/16/2059 (i) | 240,856 | 9,980 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, TBA, 2%, 12/15/2051 - 1/15/2052 | 450,000 | 455,528 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, TBA, 3.5%, 12/15/2051 | 950,000 | 992,230 | ||
| Ginnie Mae, TBA, 3%, 12/20/2051 | 600,000 | 622,078 |
25
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Mortgage-Backed - continued | ||||
| Ginnie Mae, TBA, 4%, 12/20/2051 | $ | 150,000 | $ 158,391 | |
| Ginnie Mae, TBA, 2.5%, 1/15/2052 | 925,000 | 948,486 | ||
| UMBS, TBA, 2%, 12/16/2036 - 12/25/2051 | 11,525,000 | 11,553,853 | ||
| UMBS, TBA, 1.5%, 12/25/2036 | 500,000 | 502,617 | ||
| UMBS, TBA, 2.5%, 12/25/2036 - 12/25/2051 | 5,075,000 | 5,196,826 | ||
| UMBS, TBA, 3%, 12/25/2051 - 1/13/2052 | 1,675,000 | 1,738,160 | ||
| $54,595,120 | ||||
| Municipals - 4.5% | ||||
| Bridgeview, IL, Stadium and Redevelopment Projects, AAC, 5.06%, 12/01/2025 | $ | 630,000 | $ 647,264 | |
| California Earthquake Authority Rev., "B", 1.477%, 7/01/2023 | 110,000 | 111,285 | ||
| Chicago, IL, General Obligation, "C", AGM, 6.207%, 1/01/2036 | 1,010,000 | 1,381,561 | ||
| Florida State Board of Administration Finance Corp. Rev., "A", 1.705%, 7/01/2027 | 291,000 | 291,724 | ||
| Golden State, CA, Tobacco Securitization Corp., Tobacco Settlement Rev., "B", 3%, 6/01/2046 | 195,000 | 200,758 | ||
| Guam International Airport Authority Rev. (A.B. Won Pat Airport), "A", 4.46%, 10/01/2043 | 5,000 | 5,253 | ||
| Illinois Sales Tax Securitization Corp., Second Lien, "B", BAM, 3.411%, 1/01/2043 | 240,000 | 265,914 | ||
| Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, Education Loan Subordinate Rev., "A", 2.641%, 7/01/2037 | 535,000 | 544,343 | ||
| Michigan Finance Authority Tobacco Settlement Asset-Backed Rev. (2006 Sold Tobacco Receipts), "A-1", 2.326%, 6/01/2030 | 19,102 | 19,710 | ||
| New Jersey Economic Development Authority State Pension Funding Rev., Capital Appreciation, "B", AGM, 0%, 2/15/2023 | 1,182,000 | 1,171,319 | ||
| New Jersey Turnpike Authority Rev. (Build America Bonds), "F", 7.414%, 1/01/2040 | 32,000 | 52,680 | ||
| Syracuse, NY, Industrial Development Agency PILOT Rev. (Carousel Center Project), "B", 5%, 1/01/2036 (n) | 1,215,000 | 1,081,411 | ||
| Texas Transportation Commission, Central Texas Turnpike System First Tier Refunding Rev., Taxable, "B", 1.98%, 8/15/2042 | 195,000 | 196,817 | ||
| University of California, General Taxable Rev., "BG", 1.614%, 5/15/2030 | 470,000 | 458,893 | ||
| $6,428,932 | ||||
| Oils - 0.1% | ||||
| Valero Energy Corp., 3.65%, 12/01/2051 | $ | 157,000 | $ 154,316 | |
| Pharmaceuticals - 0.1% | ||||
| Gilead Sciences, Inc., 4.5%, 2/01/2045 | $ | 82,000 | $ 100,674 |
26
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| Retailers - 0.5% | ||||
| Home Depot, Inc., 2.7%, 4/15/2030 | $ | 700,000 | $ 733,959 | |
| Supranational - 0.2% | ||||
| Inter-American Development Bank, 4.375%, 1/24/2044 | $ | 158,000 | $ 222,620 | |
| Telecommunications - Wireless - 0.8% | ||||
| Crown Castle International Corp., 3.25%, 1/15/2051 | $ | 464,000 | $ 463,026 | |
| T-Mobile USA, Inc., 4.375%, 4/15/2040 | 650,000 | 738,109 | ||
| $1,201,135 | ||||
| Transportation - Services - 0.0% | ||||
| ERAC USA Finance LLC, 3.85%, 11/15/2024 (n) | $ | 34,000 | $ 36,235 | |
| U.S. Government Agencies and Equivalents - 0.6% | ||||
| Small Business Administration, 5.52%, 6/01/2024 | $ | 25,107 | $ 25,971 | |
| Small Business Administration, 2.21%, 2/01/2033 | 104,929 | 106,618 | ||
| Small Business Administration, 2.22%, 3/01/2033 | 153,114 | 155,696 | ||
| Small Business Administration, 3.15%, 7/01/2033 | 140,630 | 147,741 | ||
| Small Business Administration, 3.62%, 9/01/2033 | 137,279 | 145,901 | ||
| Tennessee Valley Authority, 0.75%, 5/15/2025 | 268,000 | 265,820 | ||
| $847,747 | ||||
| U.S. Treasury Obligations - 39.3% | ||||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 2.25%, 2/15/2027 | $ | 1,921,000 | $ 2,024,029 | |
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 5.25%, 2/15/2029 | 48,000 | 60,881 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 0.625%, 5/15/2030 | 800,000 | 750,906 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 4.75%, 2/15/2037 | 336,000 | 484,273 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 4.375%, 2/15/2038 | 1,109,000 | 1,551,950 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 4.5%, 8/15/2039 (f) | 4,503,100 | 6,448,932 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 3.125%, 2/15/2043 | 453,700 | 554,223 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 2.875%, 5/15/2043 | 1,697,100 | 1,999,794 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 2.5%, 2/15/2045 | 4,017,000 | 4,500,452 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 2.875%, 11/15/2046 | 3,470,000 | 4,198,836 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 3%, 2/15/2048 | 804,400 | 1,005,217 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Bonds, 2.375%, 5/15/2051 | 638,000 | 723,632 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 1.75%, 6/15/2022 | 1,500,000 | 1,513,066 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 1.5%, 9/15/2022 | 4,459,000 | 4,504,983 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 0.125%, 12/31/2022 | 1,530,000 | 1,527,311 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 0.125%, 2/28/2023 | 1,171,500 | 1,168,297 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 0.125%, 4/30/2023 | 3,940,200 | 3,925,424 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 0.125%, 5/31/2023 | 2,400,000 | 2,389,500 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 2.75%, 2/15/2024 | 577,000 | 603,934 |
27
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Bonds - continued | ||||
| U.S. Treasury Obligations - continued | ||||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 2.5%, 5/15/2024 | $ | 2,955,000 | $ 3,084,166 | |
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 2.875%, 7/31/2025 | 4,700,000 | 5,017,801 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 2%, 8/15/2025 | 98,000 | 101,541 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 0.75%, 5/31/2026 | 567,700 | 558,541 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 0.875%, 6/30/2026 | 678,600 | 670,913 | ||
| U.S. Treasury Notes, 2%, 11/15/2026 | 6,071,000 | 6,322,140 | ||
| $55,690,742 | ||||
| Utilities - Electric Power - 0.5% | ||||
| FirstEnergy Corp., 4.4%, 7/15/2027 | $ | 694,000 | $ 742,027 | |
| Total U.S. Bonds | $ 142,833,913 | |||
| Foreign Bonds - 6.4% | ||||
| Australia - 0.0% | ||||
| APT Pipelines Ltd., 4.25%, 7/15/2027 (n) | $ | 16,000 | $ 17,737 | |
| Chile - 0.2% | ||||
| Banco del Estado de Chile, 2.704%, 1/09/2025 (n) | $ | 241,000 | $ 246,425 | |
| China - 0.6% | ||||
| Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, 4.875%, 9/21/2025 | $ | 294,000 | $ 322,973 | |
| Tencent Holdings Ltd., 2.88%, 4/22/2031 (n) | 501,000 | 509,041 | ||
| $832,014 | ||||
| Germany - 0.2% | ||||
| Volkswagen Group of America Finance LLC, 2.7%, 9/26/2022 (n) | $ | 260,000 | $ 264,215 | |
| India - 0.8% | ||||
| Export-Import Bank of India, 2.25%, 1/13/2031 (n) | $ | 317,000 | $ 295,849 | |
| Indian Railway Finance Corp., 2.8%, 2/10/2031 (n) | 376,000 | 364,812 | ||
| Power Finance Corp. Ltd. (Republic of India), 5.25%, 8/10/2028 | 370,000 | 415,001 | ||
| $1,075,662 | ||||
| Ireland - 0.2% | ||||
| AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust, 3.3%, 1/30/2032 | $ | 355,000 | $ 357,709 | |
| Israel - 0.4% | ||||
| Bank Hapoalim B.M., 3.255% to 1/21/2027, FLR (CMT - 5yr. + 2.155%) to 1/21/2032 (n) | $ | 200,000 | $ 198,944 | |
| Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M., 3.275%, 1/29/2031 (n) | 354,000 | 355,770 | ||
| $554,714 |
28
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| Foreign Bonds - continued | ||||
| Kazakhstan - 0.3% | ||||
| KazTransGas JSC (Republic of Kazakhstan), 4.375%, 9/26/2027 | $ | 350,000 | $ 381,491 | |
| Kuwait - 0.2% | ||||
| EQUATE Petrochemical B.V. (State of Kuwait), 4.25%, 11/03/2026 | $ | 253,000 | $ 274,156 | |
| Mexico - 0.4% | ||||
| Comision Federal de Electricidad (United Mexican States), 3.348%, 2/09/2031 (n) | $ | 232,000 | $ 221,562 | |
| United Mexican States, 4.75%, 4/27/2032 | 324,000 | 361,869 | ||
| $583,431 | ||||
| Morocco - 0.2% | ||||
| Kingdom of Morocco, 3%, 12/15/2032 (n) | $ | 377,000 | $ 350,704 | |
| Panama - 0.4% | ||||
| Republic of Panama, 3.16%, 1/23/2030 | $ | 358,000 | $ 366,087 | |
| Republic of Panama, 3.362%, 6/30/2031 (n) | 162,000 | 162,324 | ||
| $528,411 | ||||
| Qatar - 0.3% | ||||
| State of Qatar, 3.75%, 4/16/2030 (n) | $ | 398,000 | $ 443,046 | |
| Romania - 0.3% | ||||
| Republic of Romania, 2%, 4/14/2033 | EUR | 367,000 | $ 378,497 | |
| Saudi Arabia - 0.4% | ||||
| Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2.25%, 2/02/2033 (n) | $ | 309,000 | $ 298,571 | |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co., 1.625%, 11/24/2025 (n) | 305,000 | 302,463 | ||
| $601,034 | ||||
| Thailand - 0.3% | ||||
| Thaioil Treasury Center Co. Ltd., 3.75%, 6/18/2050 (n) | $ | 470,000 | $ 435,430 | |
| United Arab Emirates - 0.3% | ||||
| MDGH - GMTN B.V. (United Arab Emirates), 2.5%, 11/07/2024 (n) | $ | 429,000 | $ 443,479 | |
| United Kingdom - 0.6% | ||||
| B.A.T. Capital Corp., 4.7%, 4/02/2027 | $ | 600,000 | $ 661,915 | |
| Imperial Tobacco Finance PLC, 3.75%, 7/21/2022 (n) | 266,000 | 269,673 | ||
| $931,588 |
29
Table of Contents
Portfolio of Investments - continued
| Issuer | Shares/Par | Value ($) | ||
| Bonds - continued | ||||
| Foreign Bonds - continued | ||||
| Uruguay - 0.3% | ||||
| Oriental Republic of Uruguay, 4.375%, 1/23/2031 | $ | 350,000 | $ 402,556 | |
| Total Foreign Bonds | $ 9,102,299 | |||
| Total Bonds (Identified Cost, $143,949,742) | $ 151,936,212 | |||
| Investment Companies (h) - 8.6% | ||||
| Money Market Funds - 8.6% | ||||
| MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio, 0.05% (v) (Identified Cost, $12,202,488) | 12,202,488 | $ 12,202,488 | ||
| Other Assets, Less Liabilities - (15.7)% | (22,286,517) | |||
| Net Assets - 100.0% | $ 141,852,183 |
| (f) | All or a portion of the security has been segregated as collateral for open futures contracts. |
| (h) | An affiliated issuer, which may be considered one in which the fund owns 5% or more of the outstanding voting securities, or a company which is under common control. At period end, the aggregate values of the fund's investments in affiliated issuers and in unaffiliated issuers were $12,202,488 and $151,936,212, respectively. |
| (i) | Interest only security for which the fund receives interest on notional principal (Par amount). Par amount shown is the notional principal and does not reflect the cost of the security. |
| (n) | Securities exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933. These securities may be sold in the ordinary course of business in transactions exempt from registration, normally to qualified institutional buyers. At period end, the aggregate value of these securities was $13,744,002, representing 9.7% of net assets. |
| (v) | Affiliated issuer that is available only to investment companies managed by MFS. The rate quoted for the MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio is the annualized seven-day yield of the fund at period end. |
| (z) | Restricted securities are not registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and are subject to legal restrictions on resale. These securities generally may be resold in transactions exempt from registration or to the public if the securities are subsequently registered. Disposal of these securities may involve time-consuming negotiations and prompt sale at an acceptable price may be difficult. The fund holds the following restricted securities: |
| Restricted Securities |
Acquisition Date |
Cost | Value |
| ReadyCap Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2021-FL7, "A", FLR, 1.28% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.2%), 11/25/2036 | 11/12/2021 | $220,000 | $219,794 |
| ReadyCap Commercial Mortgage Trust, 2021-FL7, "AS", FLR, 1.58% (LIBOR - 1mo. + 1.5%), 11/25/2036 | 11/12/2021 | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| Total Restricted Securities | $319,794 | ||
| % of Net assets | 0.2% |
| The following abbreviations are used in this report and are defined: | |
| AAC | Ambac Assurance Corp. |
| AGM | Assured Guaranty Municipal |
| BAM | Build America Mutual |
30
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Portfolio of Investments - continued
| CLO | Collateralized Loan Obligation |
| CMT | Constant Maturity Treasury |
| FLR | Floating Rate. Interest rate resets periodically based on the parenthetically disclosed reference rate plus a spread (if any). The period-end rate reported may not be the current rate. All reference rates are USD unless otherwise noted. |
| LIBOR | London Interbank Offered Rate |
| REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust |
| SOFR | Secured Overnight Financing Rate |
| TBA | To Be Announced |
| UMBS | Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security |
| Abbreviations indicate amounts shown in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. All amounts are stated in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. A list of abbreviations is shown below: | |
| EUR | Euro |
Derivative Contracts at 11/30/21
| Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts | ||||||
|
Currency Purchased |
Currency Sold |
Counterparty | Settlement Date |
Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) |
||
| Asset Derivatives | ||||||
| USD | 425,516 | EUR | 367,738 | State Street Bank Corp. | 1/14/2022 | $7,758 |
| Futures Contracts | ||||||
| Description |
Long/ Short |
Currency | Contracts |
Notional Amount |
Expiration Date |
Value/Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) |
| Asset Derivatives | ||||||
| Interest Rate Futures | ||||||
| U.S. Treasury Ultra Bond | Long | USD | 2 | $401,125 | March - 2022 | $16,867 |
| U.S. Treasury Ultra Note 10 yr | Long | USD | 4 | 587,563 | March - 2022 | 2,902 |
| $19,769 | ||||||
| Liability Derivatives | ||||||
| Interest Rate Futures | ||||||
| U.S. Treasury Bond | Short | USD | 62 | $10,051,750 | March - 2022 | $(244,453) |
| U.S. Treasury Note 10 yr | Short | USD | 2 | 261,625 | March - 2022 | (3,585) |
| $(248,038) |
At November 30, 2021, the fund had liquid securities with an aggregate value of $244,891 to cover any collateral or margin obligations for certain derivative contracts.
See Notes to Financial Statements
31
Table of Contents
Financial Statements
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
At 11/30/21
This statement represents your fund's balance sheet, which details the assets and liabilities comprising the total value of the fund.
| Assets | |
| Investments in unaffiliated issuers, at value (identified cost, $143,949,742) | $151,936,212 |
| Investments in affiliated issuers, at value (identified cost, $12,202,488) | 12,202,488 |
| Receivables for | |
| Forward foreign currency exchange contracts | 7,758 |
| Investments sold | 274,393 |
| TBA sale commitments | 1,868,772 |
| Interest | 676,797 |
| Other assets | 2,706 |
| Total assets | $166,969,126 |
| Liabilities | |
| Payables for | |
| Distributions | $47,323 |
| Net daily variation margin on open futures contracts | 96,088 |
| Investments purchased | 771,415 |
| TBA purchase commitments | 24,067,875 |
| Payable to affiliates | |
| Investment adviser | 4,645 |
| Administrative services fee | 163 |
| Transfer agent and dividend disbursing costs | 1,666 |
| Payable for independent Trustees' compensation | 14,800 |
| Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 112,968 |
| Total liabilities | $25,116,943 |
| Net assets | $141,852,183 |
| Net assets consist of | |
| Paid-in capital | $141,253,655 |
| Total distributable earnings (loss) | 598,528 |
| Net assets | $141,852,183 |
| Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | 32,586,290 |
| Net asset value per share (net assets of $141,852,183 / 32,586,290 shares of beneficial interest outstanding) | $4.35 |
See Notes to Financial Statements
32
Table of Contents
Financial Statements
Statement of Operations
Year ended 11/30/21
This statement describes how much your fund earned in investment income and accrued in expenses. It also describes any gains and/or losses generated by fund operations.
| Net investment income (loss) | |
| Income | |
| Interest | $3,647,688 |
| Dividends from affiliated issuers | 4,797 |
| Other | 629 |
| Total investment income | $3,653,114 |
| Expenses | |
| Management fee | $677,633 |
| Transfer agent and dividend disbursing costs | 58,340 |
| Administrative services fee | 29,953 |
| Independent Trustees' compensation | 10,126 |
| Stock exchange fee | 31,720 |
| Custodian fee | 11,932 |
| Shareholder communications | 73,630 |
| Audit and tax fees | 85,384 |
| Legal fees | 5,994 |
| Miscellaneous | 48,178 |
| Total expenses | $1,032,890 |
| Net investment income (loss) | $2,620,224 |
| Realized and unrealized gain (loss) | |
| Realized gain (loss) (identified cost basis) | |
| Unaffiliated issuers | $1,171,950 |
| Futures contracts | 731,597 |
| Forward foreign currency exchange contracts | 10,497 |
| Foreign currency | 605 |
| Net realized gain (loss) | $1,914,649 |
| Change in unrealized appreciation or depreciation | |
| Unaffiliated issuers | $(6,430,447) |
| Futures contracts | (186,011) |
| Forward foreign currency exchange contracts | 7,758 |
| Translation of assets and liabilities in foreign currencies | (164) |
| Net unrealized gain (loss) | $(6,608,864) |
| Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) | $(4,694,215) |
| Change in net assets from operations | $(2,073,991) |
See Notes to Financial Statements
33
Table of Contents
Financial Statements
Statements of Changes in Net Assets
These statements describe the increases and/or decreases in net assets resulting from operations, any distributions, and any shareholder transactions.
| Year ended | ||
| 11/30/21 | 11/30/20 | |
| Change in net assets | ||
| From operations | ||
| Net investment income (loss) | $2,620,224 | $3,421,737 |
| Net realized gain (loss) | 1,914,649 | 1,542,791 |
| Net unrealized gain (loss) | (6,608,864) | 6,277,263 |
| Change in net assets from operations | $(2,073,991) | $11,241,791 |
| Distributions to shareholders | $(2,900,169) | $(3,646,570) |
| Tax return of capital distributions to shareholders | $(7,851,681) | $(7,690,275) |
| Change in net assets from fund share transactions | $- | $(63,245) |
| Total change in net assets | $(12,825,841) | $(158,299) |
| Net assets | ||
| At beginning of period | 154,678,024 | 154,836,323 |
| At end of period | $141,852,183 | $154,678,024 |
See Notes to Financial Statements
34
Table of Contents
Financial Statements
Financial Highlights
The financial highlights table is intended to help you understand the fund's financial performance for the past 5 years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the fund share class (assuming reinvestment of all distributions) held for the entire period.
| Year ended | |||||
| 11/30/21 | 11/30/20 | 11/30/19 | 11/30/18 | 11/30/17 | |
| Net asset value, beginning of period | $4.75 | $4.75 | $4.65 | $5.08 | $5.35 |
| Income (loss) from investment operations | |||||
| Net investment income (loss) (d) | $0.08 | $0.10 | $0.12 | $0.12 | $0.14 |
| Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) | (0.15) | 0.25 | 0.32 | (0.20) | (0.03) |
| Total from investment operations | $(0.07) | $0.35 | $0.44 | $(0.08) | $0.11 |
| Less distributions declared to shareholders | |||||
| From net investment income | $(0.09) | $(0.11) | $(0.13) | $(0.14) | $(0.18) |
| From tax return of capital | (0.24) | (0.24) | (0.21) | (0.21) | (0.20) |
| Total distributions declared to shareholders | $(0.33) | $(0.35) | $(0.34) | $(0.35) | $(0.38) |
| Net increase from repurchase of capital shares | $- | $0.00(w) | $- | $- | $- |
| Net asset value, end of period (x) | $4.35 | $4.75 | $4.75 | $4.65 | $5.08 |
| Market value, end of period | $4.27 | $4.64 | $4.56 | $4.36 | $4.81 |
| Total return at market value (%) | (0.84) | 9.64 | 12.76 | (2.05) | 2.62 |
| Total return at net asset value (%) (j)(r)(s)(x) | (1.32) | 7.75 | 10.13 | (1.09) | 2.50 |
|
Ratios (%) (to average net assets) and Supplemental data: |
|||||
| Expenses (f) | 0.70 | 0.72 | 0.74 | 0.75 | 0.75 |
| Net investment income (loss) | 1.78 | 2.19 | 2.45 | 2.57 | 2.64 |
| Portfolio turnover | 201 | 142 | 48 | 21 | 32 |
| Net assets at end of period (000 omitted) | $141,852 | $154,678 | $154,836 | $151,533 | $165,599 |
| (d) | Per share data is based on average shares outstanding. |
| (f) | Ratios do not reflect reductions from fees paid indirectly, if applicable. |
| (j) | Total return at net asset value is calculated using the net asset value of the fund, not the publicly traded price and therefore may be different than the total return at market value. |
| (r) | Certain expenses have been reduced without which performance would have been lower. |
| (s) | From time to time the fund may receive proceeds from litigation settlements, without which performance would be lower. |
| (w) | Per share amount was less than $0.01. |
| (x) | The net asset values and total returns at net asset value have been calculated on net assets which include adjustments made in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles required at period end for financial reporting purposes. |
See Notes to Financial Statements
35
Table of Contents
Notes to Financial Statements
(1) Business and Organization
MFS Government Markets Income Trust (the fund) is organized as a Massachusetts business trust and is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as a diversified closed-end management investment company.
The fund is an investment company and accordingly follows the investment company accounting and reporting guidance of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946 Financial Services - Investment Companies.
(2) Significant Accounting Policies
General - The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. In the preparation of these financial statements, management has evaluated subsequent events occurring after the date of the fund's Statement of Assets and Liabilities through the date that the financial statements were issued.
Balance Sheet Offsetting - The fund's accounting policy with respect to balance sheet offsetting is that, absent an event of default by the counterparty or a termination of the agreement, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreement, or similar agreement, does not result in an offset of reported amounts of financial assets and financial liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities across transactions between the fund and the applicable counterparty. The fund's right to setoff may be restricted or prohibited by the bankruptcy or insolvency laws of the particular jurisdiction to which a specific master netting agreement counterparty is subject. Balance sheet offsetting disclosures, to the extent applicable to the fund, have been included in the fund's Significant Accounting Policies note under the captions for each of the fund's in-scope financial instruments and transactions.
Investment Valuations - Debt instruments and floating rate loans, including restricted debt instruments, are generally valued at an evaluated or composite bid as provided by a third-party pricing service. Short-term instruments with a maturity at issuance of 60 days or less may be valued at amortized cost, which approximates market value. Futures contracts are generally valued at last posted settlement price on their primary exchange as provided by a third-party pricing service. Futures contracts for which there were no trades that day for a particular position are generally valued at the closing bid quotation on their primary exchange as provided by a third-party pricing service. Forward foreign currency exchange contracts are generally valued at the mean of bid and asked prices for the time period interpolated from rates provided by a third-party pricing service for proximate time periods. Open-end investment companies are generally valued at net asset value per share. Securities and other assets generally valued on the basis of information from a third-party pricing service may also be valued at a broker/dealer bid quotation. In determining values, third-party pricing services can utilize both transaction data and market information such as yield, quality, coupon rate,
36
Table of Contents
Notes to Financial Statements - continued
maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics, and other market data. The values of foreign securities and other assets and liabilities expressed in foreign currencies are converted to U.S. dollars using the mean of bid and asked prices for rates provided by a third-party pricing service.
The Board of Trustees has delegated primary responsibility for determining or causing to be determined the value of the fund's investments (including any fair valuation) to the adviser pursuant to valuation policies and procedures approved by the Board. If the adviser determines that reliable market quotations are not readily available, investments are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the adviser in accordance with such procedures under the oversight of the Board of Trustees. Under the fund's valuation policies and procedures, market quotations are not considered to be readily available for most types of debt instruments and floating rate loans and many types of derivatives. These investments are generally valued at fair value based on information from third-party pricing services. In addition, investments may be valued at fair value if the adviser determines that an investment's value has been materially affected by events occurring after the close of the exchange or market on which the investment is principally traded (such as foreign exchange or market) and prior to the determination of the fund's net asset value, or after the halt of trading of a specific security where trading does not resume prior to the close of the exchange or market on which the security is principally traded. The adviser generally relies on third-party pricing services or other information (such as the correlation with price movements of similar securities in the same or other markets; the type, cost and investment characteristics of the security; the business and financial condition of the issuer; and trading and other market data) to assist in determining whether to fair value and at what value to fair value an investment. The value of an investment for purposes of calculating the fund's net asset value can differ depending on the source and method used to determine value. When fair valuation is used, the value of an investment used to determine the fund's net asset value may differ from quoted or published prices for the same investment. There can be no assurance that the fund could obtain the fair value assigned to an investment if it were to sell the investment at the same time at which the fund determines its net asset value per share.
Various inputs are used in determining the value of the fund's assets or liabilities. These inputs are categorized into three broad levels. In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, an investment's level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The fund's assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment, and considers factors specific to the investment. Level 1 includes unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 includes other significant observable market-based inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speed, and credit risk). Level 3 includes unobservable inputs, which may include the adviser's own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments. Other financial instruments are derivative instruments, such as futures contracts and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. The following is a summary of the levels used as of November 30, 2021 in valuing the fund's assets and liabilities:
37
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
| Financial Instruments | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total |
| U.S. Treasury Bonds & U.S. Government Agencies & Equivalents | $- | $56,538,489 | $- | $56,538,489 |
| Non - U.S. Sovereign Debt | - | 6,254,485 | - | 6,254,485 |
| Municipal Bonds | - | 6,428,932 | - | 6,428,932 |
| U.S. Corporate Bonds | - | 16,411,488 | - | 16,411,488 |
| Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities | - | 54,595,120 | - | 54,595,120 |
| Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities | - | 5,124,837 | - | 5,124,837 |
| Asset-Backed Securities (including CDOs) | - | 3,512,428 | - | 3,512,428 |
| Foreign Bonds | - | 3,070,433 | - | 3,070,433 |
| Mutual Funds | 12,202,488 | - | - | 12,202,488 |
| Total | $12,202,488 | $151,936,212 | $- | $164,138,700 |
| Other Financial Instruments | ||||
| Futures Contracts - Assets | $19,769 | $- | $- | $19,769 |
| Futures Contracts - Liabilities | (248,038) | - | - | (248,038) |
| Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts - Assets | - | 7,758 | - | 7,758 |
For further information regarding security characteristics, see the Portfolio of Investments.
Inflation-Adjusted Debt Securities - The fund invests in inflation-adjusted debt securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. The principal value of these debt securities is adjusted through income according to changes in the Consumer Price Index. These debt securities typically pay a fixed rate of interest, but this fixed rate is applied to the inflation-adjusted principal amount. The principal paid at maturity of the debt security is typically equal to the inflation-adjusted principal amount, or the security's original par value, whichever is greater. Other types of inflation-adjusted securities may use other methods to adjust for other measures of inflation.
Foreign Currency Translation - Purchases and sales of foreign investments, income, and expenses are converted into U.S. dollars based upon currency exchange rates prevailing on the respective dates of such transactions or on the reporting date for foreign denominated receivables and payables. Gains and losses attributable to foreign currency exchange rates on sales of securities are recorded for financial statement purposes as net realized gains and losses on investments. Gains and losses attributable to foreign exchange rate movements on receivables, payables, income and expenses are recorded for financial statement purposes as foreign currency transaction gains and losses. That portion of both realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments that results from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates is not separately disclosed.
Derivatives - The fund uses derivatives primarily to increase or decrease exposure to a particular market or segment of the market, or security, to increase or decrease interest rate or currency exposure, or as alternatives to direct investments. Derivatives are used for hedging or non-hedging purposes. While hedging can reduce or eliminate
38
Table of Contents
Notes to Financial Statements - continued
losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. When the fund uses derivatives as an investment to increase market exposure, or for hedging purposes, gains and losses from derivative instruments may be substantially greater than the derivative's original cost.
The derivative instruments used by the fund during the period were futures contracts and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. Depending on the type of derivative, a fund may exit a derivative position by entering into an offsetting transaction with a counterparty or exchange, negotiating an agreement with the derivative counterparty, or novating the position to a third party. The fund may be unable to promptly close out a futures position in instances where the daily fluctuation in the price for that type of future exceeds the daily limit set by the exchange. The fund's period end derivatives, as presented in the Portfolio of Investments and the associated Derivative Contract tables, generally are indicative of the volume of its derivative activity during the period.
The following table presents, by major type of derivative contract, the fair value, on a gross basis, of the asset and liability components of derivatives held by the fund at November 30, 2021 as reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Fair Value (a) | |||
| Risk | Derivative Contracts | Asset Derivatives | Liability Derivatives |
| Interest Rate | Futures Contracts | $19,769 | $(248,038) |
| Foreign Exchange | Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts | 7,758 | - |
| Total | $27,527 | $(248,038) |
| (a) | Values presented in this table for futures contracts correspond to the values reported in the Portfolio of Investments. Only the current day net variation margin for futures contracts is separately reported within the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. |
The following table presents, by major type of derivative contract, the realized gain (loss) on derivatives held by the fund for the year ended November 30, 2021 as reported in the Statement of Operations:
| Risk |
Futures Contracts |
Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts |
| Interest Rate | $731,597 | $- |
| Foreign Exchange | - | 10,497 |
| Total | $731,597 | $10,497 |
The following table presents, by major type of derivative contract, the change in unrealized appreciation or depreciation on derivatives held by the fund for the year ended November 30, 2021 as reported in the Statement of Operations:
| Risk |
Futures Contracts |
Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts |
| Interest Rate | $(186,011) | $- |
| Foreign Exchange | - | 7,758 |
| Total | $(186,011) | $7,758 |
39
Table of Contents
Notes to Financial Statements - continued
Derivative counterparty credit risk is managed through formal evaluation of the creditworthiness of all potential counterparties. On certain, but not all, uncleared derivatives, the fund attempts to reduce its exposure to counterparty credit risk whenever possible by entering into an ISDA Master Agreement on a bilateral basis. The ISDA Master Agreement gives each party to the agreement the right to terminate all transactions traded under such agreement if there is a specified deterioration in the credit quality of the other party. Upon an event of default or a termination of the ISDA Master Agreement, the non-defaulting party has the right to close out all transactions traded under such agreement and to net amounts owed under each agreement to one net amount payable by one party to the other. This right to close out and net payments across all transactions traded under the ISDA Master Agreement could result in a reduction of the fund's credit risk to such counterparty equal to any amounts payable by the fund under the applicable transactions, if any.
Collateral and margin requirements differ by type of derivative. For cleared derivatives (e.g., futures contracts, cleared swaps, and exchange-traded options), margin requirements are set by the clearing broker and the clearing house and collateral, in the form of cash or securities, is posted by the fund directly with the clearing broker. Collateral terms are counterparty agreement specific for uncleared derivatives (e.g., forward foreign currency exchange contracts, uncleared swap agreements, and uncleared options) and collateral, in the form of cash and securities, is held in segregated accounts with the fund's custodian in connection with these agreements. For derivatives traded under an ISDA Master Agreement, which contains a collateral support annex, the collateral requirements are netted across all transactions traded under such counterparty-specific agreement and an amount is posted from one party to the other to collateralize such obligations. Cash that has been segregated or delivered to cover the fund's collateral or margin obligations under derivative contracts, if any, will be reported separately in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as restricted cash for uncleared derivatives and/or deposits with brokers for cleared derivatives. Securities pledged as collateral or margin for the same purpose, if any, are noted in the Portfolio of Investments. The fund may be required to make payments of interest on uncovered collateral or margin obligations with the broker. Any such payments are included in "Miscellaneous" expense in the Statement of Operations.
Futures Contracts - The fund entered into futures contracts which may be used to hedge against or obtain broad market exposure, interest rate exposure, currency exposure, or to manage duration. A futures contract represents a commitment for the future purchase or sale of an asset at a specified price on a specified date.
Upon entering into a futures contract, the fund is required to deposit with the broker, either in cash or securities, an initial margin in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the notional amount of the contract. Subsequent payments (variation margin) are made or received by the fund each day, depending on the daily fluctuations in the value of the contract, and are recorded for financial statement purposes as unrealized gain or loss by the fund until the contract is closed or expires at which point the gain or loss on futures contracts is realized.
The fund bears the risk of interest rates, exchange rates or securities prices moving unexpectedly, in which case, the fund may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the futures contracts and may realize a loss. While futures contracts may present less counterparty risk to the fund since the contracts are exchange traded and the exchange's clearinghouse guarantees payments to the broker, there is still counterparty
40
Table of Contents
Notes to Financial Statements - continued
credit risk due to the insolvency of the broker. The fund's maximum risk of loss due to counterparty credit risk is equal to the margin posted by the fund to the broker plus any gains or minus any losses on the outstanding futures contracts.
Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts - The fund entered into forward foreign currency exchange contracts for the purchase or sale of a specific foreign currency at a fixed price on a future date. These contracts may be used to hedge the fund's currency risk or for non-hedging purposes. For hedging purposes, the fund may enter into contracts to deliver or receive foreign currency that the fund will receive from or use in its normal investment activities. The fund may also use contracts to hedge against declines in the value of foreign currency denominated securities due to unfavorable exchange rate movements. For non-hedging purposes, the fund may enter into contracts with the intent of changing the relative exposure of the fund's portfolio of securities to different currencies to take advantage of anticipated exchange rate changes.
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts are adjusted by the daily exchange rate of the underlying currency and any unrealized gains or losses are recorded as a receivable or payable for forward foreign currency exchange contracts until the contract settlement date. On contract settlement date, any gain or loss on the contract is recorded as realized gains or losses on forward foreign currency exchange contracts.
Risks may arise upon entering into these contracts from unanticipated movements in the value of the contract and from the potential inability of counterparties to meet the terms of their contracts. Generally, the fund's maximum risk due to counterparty credit risk is the unrealized gain on the contract due to the use of Continuous Linked Settlement, a multicurrency cash settlement system for the centralized settlement of foreign transactions. This risk is mitigated in cases where there is an ISDA Master Agreement between the fund and the counterparty providing for netting as described above and, where applicable, by the posting of collateral by the counterparty to the fund to cover the fund's exposure to the counterparty under such ISDA Master Agreement.
Indemnifications - Under the fund's organizational documents, its officers and Trustees may be indemnified against certain liabilities and expenses arising out of the performance of their duties to the fund. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the fund enters into agreements with service providers that may contain indemnification clauses. The fund's maximum exposure under these agreements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the fund that have not yet occurred.
Investment Transactions and Income - Investment transactions are recorded on the trade date. Some securities may be purchased or sold on an extended settlement basis, which means that the receipt or delivery of the securities by the fund and related payments occur at a future date, usually beyond the customary settlement period.
Interest income is recorded on the accrual basis. All premium and discount is amortized or accreted for financial statement purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Interest payments received in additional securities are recorded on the ex-interest date in an amount equal to the value of the security on such date.
Inflation-indexed bonds are fixed-income securities whose principal value is periodically adjusted upward or downward based on the rate of inflation. Interest is accrued based
41
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
on the principal value, which is adjusted for inflation. Any increase or decrease in the principal amount of an inflation-indexed bond is generally recorded as an increase or decrease in interest income, respectively, even though the adjusted principal is not received until maturity.
The fund may receive proceeds from litigation settlements. Any proceeds received from litigation involving portfolio holdings are reflected in the Statement of Operations in realized gain/loss if the security has been disposed of by the fund or in unrealized gain/loss if the security is still held by the fund. Any other proceeds from litigation not related to portfolio holdings are reflected as other income in the Statement of Operations.
The fund invests a significant portion of its assets in asset-backed and/or mortgage-backed securities. For these securities, the value of the debt instrument also depends on the credit quality and adequacy of the underlying assets or collateral as well as whether there is a security interest in the underlying assets or collateral. Enforcing rights, if any, against the underlying assets or collateral may be difficult. U.S. Government securities not supported as to the payment of principal or interest by the U.S. Treasury, such as those issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, are subject to greater credit risk than are U.S. Government securities supported by the U.S. Treasury, such as those issued by Ginnie Mae.
The fund may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a "To Be Announced" (TBA) basis. A TBA transaction is subject to extended settlement and typically does not designate the actual security to be delivered, but instead includes an approximate principal amount. The price of the TBA security and the date that it will be settled are fixed at the time the transaction is negotiated. The value of the security varies with market fluctuations and no interest accrues to the fund until settlement takes place. TBA purchase and sale commitments are held at carrying amount, which approximates fair value and are categorized as level 2 within the fair value hierarchy and included in TBA purchase and TBA sale commitments in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Losses may arise as a result of changes in the value of the TBA investment prior to settlement date or due to counterparty non-performance. At the time that it enters into a TBA transaction, the fund is required to have sufficient cash and/or liquid securities to cover its commitments.
The fund may also enter into mortgage dollar rolls, typically TBA dollar rolls, in which the fund sells TBA mortgage-backed securities to financial institutions and simultaneously agrees to repurchase similar (same issuer, type and coupon) securities at a later date at an agreed-upon price. During the period between the sale and repurchase, the fund will not be entitled to receive interest and principal payments on the securities sold. The fund accounts for dollar roll transactions as purchases and sales and realizes gains and losses on these transactions. Dollar roll transactions involve the risk that the market value of the securities that the fund is required to purchase may decline below the agreed upon repurchase price of those securities.
To mitigate the counterparty credit risk on TBA transactions, mortgage dollar rolls, and other types of forward settling mortgage-backed and asset-backed security transactions, the fund whenever possible enters into a Master Securities Forward Transaction Agreement ("MSFTA") on a bilateral basis with each of the counterparties with whom it undertakes a significant volume of transactions. The MSFTA gives each party to the agreement the right to terminate all transactions traded under such agreement if there is a specified deterioration in the credit quality of the other party.
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
Upon an event of default or a termination of the MSFTA, the non-defaulting party has the right to close out all transactions traded under such agreement and to net amounts owed under each transaction to one net amount payable by one party to the other. This right to close out and net payments across all transactions traded under the MSFTA could result in a reduction of the fund's credit risk to such counterparty equal to any amounts payable by the fund under the applicable transactions, if any.
For mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities traded under a MSFTA, the collateral and margining requirements are contract specific. Collateral amounts across all transactions traded under such agreement are netted and an amount is posted from one party to the other to collateralize such obligations. Cash that has been pledged to cover the fund's collateral or margin obligations under a MSFTA, if any, will be reported separately on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as restricted cash. Securities pledged as collateral or margin for the same purpose, if any, are noted in the Portfolio of Investments.
Tax Matters and Distributions - The fund intends to qualify as a regulated investment company, as defined under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, and to distribute all of its taxable income, including realized capital gains. As a result, no provision for federal income tax is required. The fund's federal tax returns, when filed, will remain subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service for a three year period. Management has analyzed the fund's tax positions taken on federal and state tax returns for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability. Foreign taxes, if any, have been accrued by the fund in the accompanying financial statements in accordance with the applicable foreign tax law. Foreign income taxes may be withheld by certain countries in which the fund invests. Additionally, capital gains realized by the fund on securities issued in or by certain foreign countries may be subject to capital gains tax imposed by those countries.
Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The fund seeks to pay monthly distributions based on an annual rate of 7.25% of the fund's average monthly net asset value. As a result, distributions may exceed actual earnings which may result in a tax return of capital. Income and capital gain distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Certain capital accounts in the financial statements are periodically adjusted for permanent differences in order to reflect their tax character. These adjustments have no impact on net assets or net asset value per share. Temporary differences which arise from recognizing certain items of income, expense, gain or loss in different periods for financial statement and tax purposes will reverse at some time in the future.
Book/tax differences primarily relate to amortization and accretion of debt securities, straddle loss deferrals and derivative transactions.
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
The tax character of distributions declared to shareholders for the last two fiscal years is as follows:
|
Year ended 11/30/21 |
Year ended 11/30/20 |
|
| Ordinary income (including any short-term capital gains) | $2,900,169 | $3,646,570 |
| Tax return of capital (b) | 7,851,681 | 7,690,275 |
| Total distributions | $10,751,850 | $11,336,845 |
| (b) | Distributions in excess of tax basis earnings and profits are reported in the financial statements as a tax return of capital. |
The federal tax cost and the tax basis components of distributable earnings were as follows:
| As of 11/30/21 | |
| Cost of investments | $160,149,431 |
| Gross appreciation | 4,337,859 |
| Gross depreciation | (569,101) |
| Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | $ 3,768,758 |
| Capital loss carryforwards | (3,107,951) |
| Other temporary differences | (62,279) |
| Total distributable earnings (loss) | $ 598,528 |
As of November 30, 2021, the fund had capital loss carryforwards available to offset future realized gains. These net capital losses may be carried forward indefinitely and their character is retained as short-term and/or long-term losses. Such losses are characterized as follows:
| Long-Term | $(3,107,951) |
(3) Transactions with Affiliates
Investment Adviser - The fund has an investment advisory agreement with MFS to provide overall investment management and related administrative services and facilities to the fund. The management fee is computed daily and paid monthly at an annual rate of 0.32% of the fund's average daily net assets and 5.33% of gross income. Gross income is calculated based on tax elections that generally include the accretion of discount and exclude the amortization of premium, which may differ from investment income reported in the Statement of Operations. MFS has agreed to reduce its management fee to the lesser of the contractual management fee as set forth above or 0.85% of the fund's average daily net assets. This written agreement will continue until modified by the fund's Board of Trustees, but such agreement will continue at least until November 30, 2022. For the year ended November 30, 2021, the fund's average daily net assets and gross income fees did not meet the thresholds required to waive the management fee under this agreement. The management fee, from net assets and gross income, incurred for the year ended November 30, 2021 was equivalent to an annual effective rate of 0.46% of the fund's average daily net assets.
The investment adviser has agreed in writing to pay a portion of the fund's total annual operating expenses, excluding interest, taxes, extraordinary expenses, brokerage and transaction costs, and investment-related expenses, such that total annual operating
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
expenses do not exceed 0.80% annually of the fund's average daily net assets. This written agreement will continue until modified by the fund's Board of Trustees, but such agreement will continue at least until November 30, 2022. For the year ended November 30, 2021, the fund's actual operating expenses did not exceed the limit and therefore, the investment adviser did not pay any portion of the fund's expenses related to this agreement.
Transfer Agent - The fund engages Computershare Trust Company, N.A. ("Computershare") as the sole transfer agent for the fund. MFS Service Center, Inc. (MFSC) monitors and supervises the activities of Computershare for an agreed upon fee approved by the Board of Trustees. For the year ended November 30, 2021, these fees paid to MFSC amounted to $20,044.
Administrator - MFS provides certain financial, legal, shareholder communications, compliance, and other administrative services to the fund. Under an administrative services agreement, the fund reimburses MFS the costs incurred to provide these services. The fund is charged an annual fixed amount of $17,500 plus a fee based on average daily net assets. The administrative services fee incurred for the year ended November 30, 2021 was equivalent to an annual effective rate of 0.0203% of the fund's average daily net assets.
Trustees' and Officers' Compensation - The fund pays compensation to independent Trustees in the form of a retainer, attendance fees, and additional compensation to Board and Committee chairpersons. The fund does not pay compensation directly to Trustees or officers of the fund who are also officers of the investment adviser, all of whom receive remuneration from MFS for their services to the fund. Certain officers and Trustees of the fund are officers or directors of MFS and MFSC.
Prior to December 31, 2001, the fund had an unfunded defined benefit plan ("DB plan") for independent Trustees. As of December 31, 2001, the Board took action to terminate the DB plan with respect to then-current and any future independent Trustees, such that the DB plan covers only certain of those former independent Trustees who retired on or before December 31, 2001. The DB plan resulted in a pension expense of $726 and is included in "Independent Trustees' compensation" in the Statement of Operations for the year ended November 30, 2021. The liability for deferred retirement benefits payable to those former independent Trustees under the DB plan amounted to $14,792 at November 30, 2021, and is included in "Payable for independent Trustees' compensation" in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
Other - The fund invests in the MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio which is managed by MFS and seeks current income consistent with preservation of capital and liquidity. This money market fund does not pay a management fee to MFS but does incur investment and operating costs.
(4) Portfolio Securities
For the year ended November 30, 2021, purchases and sales of investments, other than short-term obligations, were as follows:
| Purchases | Sales | |
| U.S. Government securities | $298,278,097 | $301,345,797 |
| Non-U.S. Government securities | 13,754,462 | 12,922,010 |
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
(5) Shares of Beneficial Interest
The fund's Declaration of Trust permits the Trustees to issue an unlimited number of full and fractional shares of beneficial interest. The Trustees have authorized the repurchase by the fund of up to 10% annually of its own shares of beneficial interest.
During the year ended November 30, 2021, the fund did not repurchase any shares.
The fund repurchased 14,827 shares of beneficial interest during the year ended November 30, 2020 at an average price per share of $4.27 and a weighted average discount of 8.47% per share. Transactions in fund shares were as follows:
|
Year ended 11/30/21 |
Year ended 11/30/20 |
||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | ||
| Capital shares repurchased | - | $- | (14,827) | $(63,245) |
(6) Line of Credit
The fund and certain other funds managed by MFS participate in a $1.25 billion unsecured committed line of credit of which $1 billion is reserved for use by the fund and certain other MFS U.S. funds. The line of credit is provided by a syndicate of banks under a credit agreement. Borrowings may be made for temporary financing needs. Interest is charged to each fund, based on its borrowings, generally at a rate equal to the highest of one month LIBOR, the Federal Funds Effective Rate and the Overnight Bank Funding Rate, plus an agreed upon spread. A commitment fee, based on the average daily, unused portion of the committed line of credit, is allocated among the participating funds. In addition, the fund and other funds managed by MFS have established unsecured uncommitted borrowing arrangements with certain banks for temporary financing needs. Interest is charged to each fund, based on its borrowings, at rates equal to customary reference rates plus an agreed upon spread. For the year ended November 30, 2021, the fund's commitment fee and interest expense were $569 and $0, respectively, and are included in "Miscellaneous" expense in the Statement of Operations.
(7) Investments in Affiliated Issuers
An affiliated issuer may be considered one in which the fund owns 5% or more of the outstanding voting securities, or a company which is under common control. For the purposes of this report, the following were affiliated issuers:
| Affiliated Issuers |
Beginning Value |
Purchases |
Sales Proceeds |
Realized Gain (Loss) |
Change in Unrealized Appreciation or Depreciation |
Ending Value |
| MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | $5,662,721 | $46,433,089 | $39,893,322 | $- | $- | $12,202,488 |
| Affiliated Issuers |
Dividend Income |
Capital Gain Distributions |
| MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | $4,797 | $- |
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Notes to Financial Statements - continued
(8) Impacts of COVID-19
The pandemic related to the global spread of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which was first detected in December 2019, has resulted in significant disruptions to global business activity and the global economy, as well as the economies of individual countries, the financial performance of individual companies and sectors, and the securities and commodities markets in general. Multiple surges in cases globally, the availability and widespread adoption of vaccines, and the emergence of variant strains of the virus continue to create uncertainty as to the future and long-term impacts resulting from the pandemic including impacts to the prices and liquidity of the fund's investments and the fund's performance.
(9) LIBOR Transition
Certain of the fund's investments, including its investments in derivatives, as well as any debt issued by the fund and other contractual arrangements of the fund may be based on reference interest rates such as the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR"). In 2017, the regulatory authority that oversees financial services firms in the United Kingdom announced plans to transition away from LIBOR by the end of 2021. In March 2021, the administrator of LIBOR announced the extension of the publication of the more commonly used U.S. dollar LIBOR settings to the end of June 2023. Although the full impacts of the transition away from LIBOR are not fully known, the transition may result in, among other things, an increase in volatility or illiquidity of the markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR to determine interest rates and this could have an adverse impact on the fund's performance. With respect to the fund's accounting for investments, including its investments in derivatives, as well as any debt issued by the fund and other contractual arrangements of the fund that undergo reference rate-related modifications as a result of the transition, management will rely upon the relief provided by FASB Codification Topic 848 - Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848). The guidance in Topic 848 permits the fund to disregard the GAAP accounting requirements around certain contract modifications resulting from the LIBOR transition such that for contracts considered in scope, the fund can account for those modified contracts as a continuation of the existing contracts. While the cessation of the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR tenors along with certain other non-U.S. dollar denominated LIBOR settings at December 31, 2021 did not have a material impact on the fund, management is still evaluating the impact to the fund of the June 30, 2023 planned discontinuation of the more commonly used U.S. dollar LIBOR settings.
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Board of Trustees and the Shareholders of MFS Government Markets Income Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements and Financial Highlights
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of MFS Government Markets Income Trust (the "Fund"), including the portfolio of investments, as of November 30, 2021, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, and the related notes. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of November 30, 2021, and the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund's financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Fund is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights.
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm - continued
Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of November 30, 2021, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Boston, Massachusetts
January 14, 2022
January 14, 2022
We have served as the auditor of one or more of the MFS investment companies since 1924.
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Results of Shareholder Meeting (unaudited)
At the annual meeting of shareholders of MFS Government Markets Income Trust, which was held on October 7, 2021, the following action was taken:
Item 1: To elect the following individuals as Trustees:
| Number of Shares | ||||
| Nominee | For | Withheld Authority | ||
| John A. Caroselli | 18,765,058.122 | 5,227,765.267 | ||
| James W. Kilman, Jr. | 18,763,011.122 | 5,229,812.267 | ||
| Clarence Otis, Jr. | 18,775,661.619 | 5,217,161.770 |
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Trustees and Officers - Identification and Background
The Trustees and Officers of the Trust, as of January 1, 2022, are listed below, together with their principal occupations during the past five years. (Their titles may have varied during that period.) The address of each Trustee and Officer is 111 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02199-7618.
| Name, Age | Position(s) Held with Fund | Trustee/Officer Since(h) |
Term Expiring |
Number of MFS Funds overseen by the Trustee |
Principal Occupations During the Past Five Years |
Other Directorships During the Past Five Years (j) |
||||||
| INTERESTED TRUSTEES | ||||||||||||
|
Michael W. Roberge (k) (age 55) |
Trustee | January 2021 | 2023 | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Chairman (since January 2021); Chief Executive Officer (since January 2017); Director; Chairman of the Board (since January 2022); President (until December 2018); Chief Investment Officer (until December 2018) | N/A | ||||||
| INDEPENDENT TRUSTEES | ||||||||||||
|
John P. Kavanaugh (age 67) |
Trustee and Chair of Trustees | January 2009 | 2023 | 135 | Private investor | N/A | ||||||
|
Steven E. Buller (age 70) |
Trustee | February 2014 | 2023 | 135 | Private investor | N/A | ||||||
|
John A. Caroselli (age 67) |
Trustee | March 2017 | 2024 | 135 | Private investor; JC Global Advisors, LLC (management consulting), President (since 2015) | N/A | ||||||
|
Maureen R. Goldfarb (age 66) |
Trustee | January 2009 | 2022 | 135 | Private investor | N/A | ||||||
|
Peter D. Jones (age 66) |
Trustee | January 2019 | 2023 | 135 | Private investor | N/A | ||||||
|
James W. Kilman, Jr. (age 60) |
Trustee | January 2019 | 2024 | 135 | Burford Capital Limited (finance and investment management), Senior Advisor (since May 3, 2021), Chief Financial Officer (2019 - May 2, 2021); KielStrand Capital LLC (family office), Chief Executive Officer (since 2016) | Alpha-En Corporation, Director (2016-2019) |
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Trustees and Officers - continued
| Name, Age | Position(s) Held with Fund | Trustee/Officer Since(h) |
Term Expiring |
Number of MFS Funds overseen by the Trustee |
Principal Occupations During the Past Five Years |
Other Directorships During the Past Five Years (j) |
||||||
|
Clarence Otis, Jr. (age 65) |
Trustee | March 2017 | 2024 | 135 | Private investor | VF Corporation, Director; Verizon Communications, Inc., Director; The Travelers Companies, Director | ||||||
|
Maryanne L. Roepke (age 65) |
Trustee | May 2014 | 2022 | 135 | Private investor | N/A | ||||||
|
Laurie J. Thomsen (age 64) |
Trustee | March 2005 | 2022 | 135 | Private investor | The Travelers Companies, Director; Dycom Industries, Inc., Director |
| Name, Age |
Position(s) Held with Fund |
Trustee/Officer Since(h) | Term Expiring |
Number of MFS Funds overseen by the Trustee |
Principal Occupations During the Past Five Years |
|||||
| OFFICERS | ||||||||||
|
Christopher R. Bohane (k) (age 47) |
Assistant Secretary and Assistant Clerk | July 2005 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel | |||||
|
Kino Clark (k) (age 53) |
Assistant Treasurer | January 2012 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President | |||||
|
John W. Clark, Jr. (k) (age 54) |
Assistant Treasurer | April 2017 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President (since March 2017); Deutsche Bank (financial services), Department Head - Treasurer's Office (until February 2017) | |||||
|
Thomas H. Connors (k) (age 62) |
Assistant Secretary and Assistant Clerk | September 2012 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President and Senior Counsel | |||||
|
David L. DiLorenzo (k) (age 53) |
President | July 2005 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Senior Vice President |
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Trustees and Officers - continued
| Name, Age |
Position(s) Held with Fund |
Trustee/Officer Since(h) | Term Expiring |
Number of MFS Funds overseen by the Trustee |
Principal Occupations During the Past Five Years |
|||||
|
Heidi W. Hardin (k) (age 54) |
Secretary and Clerk | April 2017 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Executive Vice President and General Counsel (since March 2017); Harris Associates (investment management), General Counsel (until January 2017) | |||||
|
Brian E. Langenfeld (k) (age 48) |
Assistant Secretary and Assistant Clerk | June 2006 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President and Senior Counsel | |||||
|
Amanda S. Mooradian (k) (age 42) |
Assistant Secretary and Assistant Clerk | September 2018 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel | |||||
|
Susan A. Pereira (k) (age 51) |
Assistant Secretary and Assistant Clerk | July 2005 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel | |||||
|
Kasey L. Phillips (k) (age 51) |
Assistant Treasurer | September 2012 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President | |||||
|
Matthew A. Stowe (k) (age 47) |
Assistant Secretary and Assistant Clerk | October 2014 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel | |||||
|
Martin J. Wolin (k) (age 54) |
Chief Compliance Officer | July 2015 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer | |||||
|
James O. Yost (k) (age 61) |
Treasurer | September 1990 | N/A | 135 | Massachusetts Financial Services Company, Senior Vice President |
| (h) | Date first appointed to serve as Trustee/Officer of an MFS Fund. Each Trustee has served continuously since appointment unless indicated otherwise. From January 2012 through December 2016, Messrs. DiLorenzo and Yost served as Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer of the Funds, respectively. |
| (j) | Directorships or trusteeships of companies required to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (i.e., "public companies"). |
| (k) | "Interested person" of the Trust within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (referred to as the 1940 Act), which is the principal federal law governing investment companies like the fund, as a result of a position with MFS. The address of MFS is 111 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02199-7618. |
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Trustees and Officers - continued
The Trust holds annual shareholder meetings for the purpose of electing Trustees, and Trustees are elected for fixed terms. The Board of Trustees is currently divided into three classes, each having a term of three years which term expires on the date of the third annual meeting following the election to office of the Trustee's class. Each year the term of one class expires. Each Trustee and officer will serve until next elected or his or her earlier death, resignation, retirement or removal. Under the terms of the Board's retirement policy, an Independent Trustee shall retire at the end of the calendar year in which he or she reaches the earlier of 75 years of age or 15 years of service on the Board (or, in the case of any Independent Trustee who joined the Board prior to 2015, 20 years of service on the Board).
Messrs. Buller, Kilman and Otis and Ms. Roepke are members of the Trust's Audit Committee.
Each of the Interested Trustees and certain Officers hold comparable officer positions with certain affiliates of MFS.
| Investment Adviser | Custodian |
|
Massachusetts Financial Services Company 111 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02199-7618 |
State Street Bank and Trust Company 1 Lincoln Street Boston, MA 02111-2900 |
| Portfolio Manager(s) | Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm |
|
Geoffrey Schechter Neeraj Arora Alexander Mackey |
Deloitte & Touche LLP 200 Berkeley Street Boston, MA 02116 |
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Board Review of Investment Advisory Agreement
MFS Government Markets Income Trust
The Investment Company Act of 1940 requires that both the full Board of Trustees and a majority of the non-interested ("independent") Trustees, voting separately, annually approve the continuation of the Fund's investment advisory agreement with MFS. The Trustees consider matters bearing on the Fund and its advisory arrangements at their meetings throughout the year, including a review of performance data at each regular meeting. In addition, the independent Trustees met several times by videoconference (in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission relief) over the course of three months beginning in May and ending in July, 2021 ("contract review meetings") for the specific purpose of considering whether to approve the continuation of the investment advisory agreement for the Fund and the other investment companies that the Board oversees (the "MFS Funds"). The independent Trustees were assisted in their evaluation of the Fund's investment advisory agreement by independent legal counsel, from whom they received separate legal advice and with whom they met separately from MFS during various contract review meetings. The independent Trustees were also assisted in this process by an independent consultant who was retained by and reported to the independent Trustees.
In connection with their deliberations regarding the continuation of the investment advisory agreement, the Trustees, including the independent Trustees, considered such information and factors as they believed, in light of the legal advice furnished to them and their own business judgment, to be relevant. The investment advisory agreement for the Fund was considered separately, although the Trustees also took into account the common interests of all MFS Funds in their review. As described below, the Trustees considered the nature, quality, and extent of the various investment advisory, administrative, and shareholder services performed by MFS under the existing investment advisory agreement and other arrangements with the Fund.
In connection with their contract review meetings, the Trustees received and relied upon materials that included, among other items: (i) information provided by Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. ("Broadridge"), an independent third party, on the investment performance (based on net asset value) of the Fund for various time periods ended December 31, 2020 and the investment performance (based on net asset value) of a group of funds with substantially similar investment classifications/objectives (the "Broadridge performance universe"), (ii) information provided by Broadridge on the Fund's advisory fees and other expenses and the advisory fees and other expenses of comparable funds identified by Broadridge as well as all other funds in the same investment classification/category (the "Broadridge expense group and universe"), (iii) information provided by MFS on the advisory fees of portfolios of other clients of MFS, including institutional separate accounts and other clients, (iv) information as to whether and to what extent applicable expense waivers, reimbursements or fee "breakpoints" are observed for the Fund, (v) information regarding MFS' financial results and financial condition, including MFS' and certain of its affiliates' estimated profitability from services performed for the Fund and the MFS Funds as a whole, and compared to MFS' institutional business, (vi) MFS' views regarding the outlook for the mutual fund industry and the strategic business plans of MFS, (vii) descriptions of various functions performed by MFS for the Funds, such as compliance monitoring and
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Board Review of Investment Advisory Agreement - continued
portfolio trading practices, and (viii) information regarding the overall organization of MFS, including information about MFS' senior management and other personnel providing investment advisory, administrative and other services to the Fund and the other MFS Funds. The comparative performance, fee and expense information prepared and provided by Broadridge was not independently verified and the independent Trustees did not independently verify any information provided to them by MFS.
The Trustees' conclusion as to the continuation of the investment advisory agreement was based on a comprehensive consideration of all information provided to the Trustees and not the result of any single factor. Some of the factors that figured particularly in the Trustees' deliberations are described below, although individual Trustees may have evaluated the information presented differently from one another, giving different weights to various factors. It is also important to recognize that the fee arrangements for the Fund and other MFS Funds are the result of years of review and discussion between the independent Trustees and MFS, that certain aspects of such arrangements may receive greater scrutiny in some years than in others, and that the Trustees' conclusions may be based, in part, on their consideration of these same arrangements during the course of the year and in prior years.
Based on information provided by Broadridge and MFS, the Trustees reviewed the Fund's total return investment performance as well as the Broadridge performance universe over various time periods. The Trustees placed particular emphasis on the total return performance of the Fund's common shares in comparison to the performance of funds in its Broadridge performance universe over the five-year period ended December 31, 2020, which the Trustees believed was a long enough period to reflect differing market conditions. The total return performance of the Fund's common shares ranked 7th out of a total of 8 funds in the Broadridge performance universe for this five-year period (a ranking of first place out of the total number of funds in the performance universe indicating the best performer and a ranking of last place out of the total number of funds in the performance universe indicating the worst performer). The total return performance of the Fund's common shares ranked 5th out of a total of 8 funds for the one-year period and 7th out of a total of 8 funds for the three-year period ended December 31, 2020. Given the size of the Broadridge performance universe and information previously provided by MFS regarding differences between the Fund and the other funds in its Broadridge performance universe, the Trustees also reviewed the Fund's performance in comparison to a custom benchmark developed by MFS. The Fund outperformed its custom benchmark for each of the one-, three- and five-year periods ended December 31, 2020 (one-year: 8.2% total return for the Fund versus 7.0% total return for the benchmark; three-year: 5.3% total return for the Fund versus 5.1% total return for the benchmark; five-year: 4.2% total return for the Fund versus 4.1% total return for the benchmark). Because of the passage of time, these performance results may differ from the performance results for more recent periods, including those shown elsewhere in this report.
In addition to considering the performance information provided in connection with the contract review meetings, the Trustees noted that, in light of the Fund's substandard relative performance at the time of their contract review meetings in 2020, they had met at each of their regular meetings since then with MFS' senior investment management personnel to discuss the Fund's performance and MFS' efforts to improve the Fund's performance. The Trustees further noted that the Fund's five-year performance as compared to its Broadridge performance universe improved for the
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Board Review of Investment Advisory Agreement - continued
period ended December 31, 2020, as compared to the prior year. The Trustees observed that there were significant limitations to the usefulness of the comparative data provided by Broadridge, noting that the applicable Broadridge performance universe for the Fund included funds that pursue substantially different investment programs as compared to that pursued by the Fund. Taking this information into account, the Trustees concluded, within the context of their overall conclusions regarding the investment advisory agreement, that they were satisfied with MFS' responses and efforts relating to investment performance.
In assessing the reasonableness of the Fund's advisory fee, the Trustees considered, among other information, the Fund's advisory fee and the total expense ratio of the Fund's common shares as a percentage of average daily net assets and the advisory fee and total expense ratios of the Broadridge expense group based on information provided by Broadridge. The Trustees considered that MFS has agreed in writing to reduce its advisory fee, and that MFS currently observes an expense limitation for the Fund, each of which may not be changed without the Trustees' approval. The Trustees also considered that, according to the data provided by Broadridge (which takes into account any fee reductions or expense limitations that were in effect during the Fund's last fiscal year), the Fund's effective advisory fee rate and total expense ratio were each approximately at the Broadridge expense group median.
The Trustees also considered the advisory fees charged by MFS to any institutional separate accounts advised by MFS ("separate accounts") and unaffiliated investment companies for which MFS serves as subadviser ("subadvised funds") that have comparable investment strategies to the Fund, if any. In comparing these fees, the Trustees considered information provided by MFS as to the generally broader scope of services provided by MFS to the Fund, as well as the more extensive regulatory burdens imposed on MFS in managing the Fund, in comparison to separate accounts and subadvised funds.
The Trustees considered that, as a closed-end fund, the Fund is unlikely to experience meaningful asset growth. As a result, the Trustees did not view the potential for realization of economies of scale as the Fund's assets grow to be a material factor in their deliberations. The Trustees noted that they would consider economies of scale in the future in the event the Fund experiences significant asset growth, such as through an offering of preferred shares (which is not currently contemplated) or a material increase in the market value of the Fund's portfolio securities.
The Trustees also considered information prepared by MFS relating to MFS' costs and profits with respect to the Fund, the MFS Funds considered as a group, and other investment companies and accounts advised by MFS, as well as MFS' methodologies used to determine and allocate its costs to the MFS Funds, the Fund and other accounts and products for purposes of estimating profitability.
After reviewing these and other factors described herein, the Trustees concluded, within the context of their overall conclusions regarding the investment advisory agreement, that the advisory fees charged to the Fund represent reasonable compensation in light of the services being provided by MFS to the Fund.
In addition, the Trustees considered MFS' resources and related efforts to continue to retain, attract and motivate capable personnel to serve the Fund. The Trustees also considered current and developing conditions in the financial services industry, including the presence of large and well-capitalized companies which are spending,
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Board Review of Investment Advisory Agreement - continued
and appear to be prepared to continue to spend, substantial sums to engage personnel and to provide services to competing investment companies. In this regard, the Trustees also considered the financial resources of MFS and its ultimate parent, Sun Life Financial Inc. The Trustees also considered the advantages and possible disadvantages to the Fund of having an adviser that also serves other investment companies as well as other accounts.
The Trustees also considered the nature, quality, cost, and extent of administrative services provided to the Fund by MFS under agreements other than the investment advisory agreement. The Trustees also considered the nature, extent and quality of certain other services MFS performs or arranges for on the Fund's behalf, which may include securities lending programs, directed expense payment programs, class action recovery programs, and MFS' interaction with third-party service providers, principally custodians and sub-custodians. The Trustees concluded that the various non-advisory services provided by MFS and its affiliates on behalf of the Fund were satisfactory.
The Trustees considered so-called "fall-out benefits" to MFS such as reputational value derived from serving as investment manager to the MFS Funds. The Trustees also considered that MFS discontinued its historic practice of obtaining investment research from portfolio brokerage commissions paid by certain MFS Funds effective January 2018, and directly pays or voluntarily reimburses a Fund, if applicable, for the costs of external research acquired through the use of the Fund's portfolio brokerage commissions.
Based on their evaluation of factors that they deemed to be material, including those factors described above, the Board of Trustees, including the independent Trustees, concluded that the Fund's investment advisory agreement with MFS should be continued for an additional one-year period, commencing August 1, 2021.
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Proxy Voting Policies and Information
MFS votes proxies on behalf of the fund pursuant to proxy voting policies and procedures that are available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-225-2606, by visiting mfs.com/proxyvoting, or by visiting the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.
Information regarding how the fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent twelve-month period ended June 30 is available by August 31 of each year without charge by visiting mfs.com/proxyvoting, or by visiting the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.
Quarterly Portfolio Disclosure
The fund files a complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. The fund's Form N-PORT reports are available on the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov. A shareholder can obtain the portfolio holdings report for the first and third quarters of the fund's fiscal year at mfs.com/closedendfunds by choosing the fund's name and then scrolling to the "Resources" section and clicking on the "Prospectus and Reports" tab.
Further Information
From time to time, MFS may post important information about the fund or the MFS Funds on the MFS Web site (mfs.com). This information is available at https://www.mfs.com/announcements or at mfs.com/closedendfunds by choosing the fund's name and then scrolling to the "Resources" section and clicking on the "Announcements" tab, if any.
Additional information about the fund (e.g., performance, dividends and the fund's price history) is also available at mfs.com/closedendfunds by choosing the fund's name, if any.
INFORMATION ABOUT FUND CONTRACTS AND LEGAL CLAIMS
The fund has entered into contractual arrangements with an investment adviser, administrator, transfer agent, and custodian who each provide services to the fund. Unless expressly stated otherwise, shareholders are not parties to, or intended beneficiaries of these contractual arrangements, and these contractual arrangements are not intended to create any shareholder right to enforce them against the service providers or to seek any remedy under them against the service providers, either directly or on behalf of the fund.
Under the Trust's By-Laws and Declaration of Trust, any claims asserted against or on behalf of the MFS Funds, including claims against Trustees and Officers, must be brought in state and federal courts located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Federal Tax Information (unaudited)
The fund will notify shareholders of amounts for use in preparing 2021 income tax forms in January 2022. The following information is provided pursuant to provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
The fund intends to pass through the maximum amount allowable as Section 163(j) Interest Dividends as defined in Treasury Regulation §1.163(j)-1(b).
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| FACTS | WHAT DOES MFS DO WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION? |
| Why? | Financial companies choose how they share your personal information. Federal law gives consumers the right to limit some but not all sharing. Federal law also requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your personal information. Please read this notice carefully to understand what we do. |
| What? | The types of personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you have with us. This information can include: |
| • Social Security number and account balances | |
| • Account transactions and transaction history | |
| • Checking account information and wire transfer instructions | |
| When you are no longer our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. |
| How? | All financial companies need to share customers' personal information to run their everyday business. In the section below, we list the reasons financial companies can share their customers' personal information; the reasons MFS chooses to share; and whether you can limit this sharing. |
|
Reasons we can share your personal information |
Does MFS share? |
Can you limit this sharing? |
|
For our everyday business purposes - such as to process your transactions, maintain your account(s), respond to court orders and legal investigations, or report to credit bureaus |
Yes | No |
|
For our marketing purposes - to offer our products and services to you |
No | We don't share |
|
For joint marketing with other financial companies |
No | We don't share |
|
For our affiliates' everyday business purposes - information about your transactions and experiences |
No | We don't share |
|
For our affiliates' everyday business purposes - information about your creditworthiness |
No | We don't share |
| For nonaffiliates to market to you | No | We don't share |
| Questions? | Call 800-225-2606 or go to mfs.com. |
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| Who we are | |
| Who is providing this notice? | MFS Funds, MFS Investment Management, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc., and MFS Heritage Trust Company. |
| What we do | |
|
How does MFS protect my personal information? |
To protect your personal information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with federal law. These measures include procedural, electronic, and physical safeguards for the protection of the personal information we collect about you. |
|
How does MFS collect my personal information? |
We collect your personal information, for example, when you |
| • open an account or provide account information | |
| • direct us to buy securities or direct us to sell your securities | |
| • make a wire transfer | |
| We also collect your personal information from others, such as credit bureaus, affiliates, or other companies. | |
| Why can't I limit all sharing? | Federal law gives you the right to limit only |
| • sharing for affiliates' everyday business purposes - information about your creditworthiness | |
| • affiliates from using your information to market to you | |
| • sharing for nonaffiliates to market to you | |
| State laws and individual companies may give you additional rights to limit sharing. |
| Definitions | |
| Affiliates | Companies related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies. |
| • MFS does not share personal information with affiliates, except for everyday business purposes as described on page one of this notice. | |
| Nonaffiliates | Companies not related by common ownership or control. They can be financial and nonfinancial companies. |
| • MFS does not share with nonaffiliates so they can market to you. | |
| Joint marketing | A formal agreement between nonaffiliated financial companies that together market financial products or services to you. |
| • MFS doesn't jointly market. |
| Other important information |
| If you own an MFS product or receive an MFS service in the name of a third party such as a bank or broker-dealer, their privacy policy may apply to you instead of ours. |
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CONTACT US
TRANSFER AGENT, REGISTRAR, AND
DIVIDEND DISBURSING AGENT
DIVIDEND DISBURSING AGENT
CALL
1-800-637-2304
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time
WRITE
Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
P.O. Box 505005
Louisville, KY 40233-5005
New York Stock Exchange Symbol: MGF
Item 1(b):
A copy of the notice transmitted to the Registrant's shareholders in reliance on Rule 30e-3 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended that contains disclosure specified by paragraph (c)(3) of Rule 30e-3 is attached hereto as EX-99.30e-3Notice.
| ITEM 2. |
CODE OF ETHICS. |
The Registrant has adopted a Code of Ethics (the "Code") pursuant to Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and as defined in Form N-CSR that applies to the Registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer. During the period covered by this report, the Registrant has not amended any provision in the Code that relates to an element of the Code's definition enumerated in paragraph (b) of Item 2 of this Form N-CSR. During the period covered by this report, the Registrant did not grant a waiver, including an implicit waiver, from any provision of the Code.
A copy of the Code is filed as an exhibit to this Form N-CSR.
| ITEM 3. |
AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT. |
Messrs. Steven E. Buller, James Kilman, and Clarence Otis, Jr. and Ms. Maryanne L. Roepke, members of the Audit Committee, have been determined by the Board of Trustees in their reasonable business judgment to meet the definition of "audit committee financial expert" as such term is defined in Form N-CSR. In addition, Messrs. Buller, Kilman, and Otis and Ms. Roepke are "independent" members of the Audit Committee (as such term has been defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission in regulations implementing Section 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002). The Securities and Exchange Commission has stated that the designation of a person as an audit committee financial expert pursuant to this Item 3 on the Form N-CSR does not impose on such a person any duties, obligations or liability that are greater than the duties, obligations or liability imposed on such person as a member of the Audit Committee and the Board of Trustees in the absence of such designation or identification.
| ITEM 4. |
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES. |
Items 4(a) through 4(d) and 4(g):
The Board of Trustees has appointed Deloitte & Touche LLP ("Deloitte") to serve as independent accountants to the Registrant (hereinafter the "Registrant" or the "Fund"). The tables below set forth the audit fees billed to the Fund as well as fees for non-audit services provided to the Fund and/or to the Fund's investment adviser, Massachusetts Financial Services Company ("MFS"), and to various entities either controlling, controlled by, or under common control with MFS that provide ongoing services to the Fund ("MFS Related Entities").
For the fiscal years ended November 30, 2021 and 2020, audit fees billed to the Fund by Deloitte were as follows:
| Audit Fees | ||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
|
Fees billed by Deloitte: |
||||||||
|
MFS Government Markets Income Trust |
66,593 | 65,547 |
For the fiscal years ended November 30, 2021 and 2020, fees billed by Deloitte for audit-related, tax and other services provided to the Fund and for audit-related, tax and other services provided to MFS and MFS Related Entities were as follows:
| Audit-Related Fees1 | Tax Fees2 | All Other Fees3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
|
Fees billed by Deloitte: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
To MFS Government Markets Income Trust |
10,000 | 10,000 | 7,485 | 6,987 | 0 | 0 |
| Audit-Related Fees1 | Tax Fees2 | All Other Fees3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
|
Fees billed by Deloitte: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
To MFS and MFS Related Entities of MFS Government Markets Income Trust* |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,390 | 5,390 |
|
Aggregate Fees for Non-audit Services |
||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
|
Fees Billed by Deloitte: |
||||||||
|
To MFS Government Markets Income Trust, MFS and MFS Related Entities# |
22,875 | 916,127 |
| * |
This amount reflects the fees billed to MFS and MFS Related Entities for non-audit services relating directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Fund (portions of which services also related to the operations and financial reporting of other funds within the MFS Funds complex). |
| # |
This amount reflects the aggregate fees billed by Deloitte for non-audit services rendered to the Fund and for non-audit services rendered to MFS and the MFS Related Entities. |
| 1 |
The fees included under "Audit-Related Fees" are fees related to assurance and related services that are reasonably related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements, but not reported under ''Audit Fees,'' including accounting consultations, agreed-upon procedure reports, attestation reports, comfort letters and internal control reviews. |
| 2 |
The fees included under "Tax Fees" are fees associated with tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning, including services relating to the filing or amendment of federal, state or local income tax returns, regulated investment company qualification reviews and tax distribution and analysis. |
| 3 |
The fees included under "All Other Fees" are fees for products and services provided by Deloitte other than those reported under "Audit Fees," "Audit-Related Fees" and "Tax Fees". |
Item 4(e)(1):
Set forth below are the policies and procedures established by the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees relating to the pre-approval of audit and non-audit related services:
To the extent required by applicable law, pre-approval by the Audit Committee of the Board is needed for all audit and permissible non-audit services rendered to the Fund and all permissible non-audit services rendered to MFS or MFS Related Entities if the services relate directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Registrant. Pre-approval is currently on an engagement-by-engagement basis. In the event pre-approval of such services is necessary between regular meetings of the Audit Committee and it is not practical to wait to seek pre-approval at the next regular meeting of the Audit Committee, pre-approval of such services may be referred to the Chair of the Audit Committee for approval; provided that the Chair may not pre-approve any individual engagement for such services exceeding $50,000 or multiple engagements for such services in the aggregate exceeding $100,000 between such regular meetings of the Audit Committee. Any engagement pre-approved by the Chair between regular meetings of the Audit Committee shall be presented for ratification by the entire Audit Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
Item 4(e)(2):
None, or 0%, of the services relating to the Audit-Related Fees, Tax Fees and All Other Fees paid by the Fund and MFS and MFS Related Entities relating directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Registrant disclosed above were approved by the audit committee pursuant to paragraphs (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X (which permits audit committee approval after the start of the engagement with respect to services other than audit, review or attest services, if certain conditions are satisfied).
Item 4(f):
Not applicable.
Item 4(h):
The Registrant's Audit Committee has considered whether the provision by a Registrant's independent registered public accounting firm of non-audit services to MFS and MFS Related Entities that were not pre-approved by the Committee (because such services were provided prior to the effectiveness of SEC rules requiring pre-approval or because such services did not relate directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Registrant) was compatible with maintaining the independence of the independent registered public accounting firm as the Registrant's principal auditors.
| ITEM 5. |
AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS. |
The Registrant has an Audit Committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The members of the Audit Committee are Messrs. Steven E. Buller, James Kilman and Clarence Otis, Jr. and Ms. Maryanne L. Roepke.
| ITEM 6. |
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS |
A schedule of investments of the Registrant is included as part of the report to shareholders of the Registrant under Item 1(a) of this Form N-CSR.
| ITEM 7. |
DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES. |
A copy of the proxy voting policies and procedures are attached hereto as EX-99.PROXYPOL.
| ITEM 8. |
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES. |
Portfolio Manager(s)
Information regarding the portfolio manager(s) of the MFS Government Markets Income Trust (the "Fund") is set forth below.Each portfolio manager is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund.
|
Portfolio Manager |
Primary Role |
Since |
Title and Five Year History |
|||
| Geoffrey Schechter | Lead and U.S. Government Securities Portfolio Manager | 2006 | Investment Officer of MFS; employed in the investment area of MFS since 1993. | |||
| Neeraj Arora | Emerging Markets Debt Instruments Portfolio Manager | 2021 | Investment Officer of MFS; employed in the investment area of MFS since 2011. | |||
| Alexander Mackey | Investment Grade Debt Instruments Portfolio Manager | 2021 | Investment Officer of MFS; employed in the investment area of MFS since 2001. |
Compensation
MFS' philosophy is to align portfolio manager compensation with the goal to provide shareholders with long-term value through a collaborative investment process. Therefore, MFS uses long-term investment performance as well as contribution to the overall investment process and collaborative culture as key factors in determining portfolio manager compensation. In addition, MFS seeks to maintain total compensation programs that are competitive in the asset management industry in each geographic market where it has employees. MFS uses competitive compensation data to ensure that compensation practices are aligned with its goals of attracting, retaining, and motivating the highest-quality professionals.
MFS reviews portfolio manager compensation annually. In determining portfolio manager compensation, MFS uses quantitative means and qualitative means to help ensure a sustainable investment process. As of December 31, 2020, portfolio manager total cash compensation is a combination of base salary and performance bonus:
Base Salary - Base salary generally represents a smaller percentage of portfolio manager total cash compensation than performance bonus.
Performance Bonus - Generally, the performance bonus represents more than a majority of portfolio manager total cash compensation.
The performance bonus is based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors, generally with more weight given to the former and less weight given to the latter.
The quantitative portion is primarily based on the pre-taxperformance of accounts managed by the portfolio manager over a range of fixed-length time periods, intended to provide the ability to assess performance over time periods consistent with a full market cycle and a strategy's investment horizon. The fixed-length time periods include the portfolio manager's full tenure on each fund and, when available, ten-, five-, and three-year periods. For portfolio managers who have served for less than three years, shorter-term periods, including the one-year period, will also be considered, as will performance in previous roles, if any, held at the firm. Emphasis is generally placed on longer performance periods when multiple performance periods are available. Performance is
evaluated across the full set of strategies and portfolios managed by a given portfolio manager, relative to appropriate peer group universes and/or representative indices ("benchmarks"). As of December 31, 2020, the following benchmarks were used to measure the following portfolio manager's performance for the Fund:
|
Fund |
Portfolio Manager |
Benchmark(s) |
||
| MFS Government Markets Income Trust | Geoffrey Schechter |
Bloomberg U.S. Credit Bond Index Bloomberg U.S. Government/Mortgage Bond Index |
||
| Neeraj Arora | JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Global | |||
| Alexander Mackey | Bloomberg U.S. Credit Bond Index |
Benchmarks may include versions and components of indices, custom indices, and linked indices that combine performance of different indices for different portions of the time period, where appropriate.
The qualitative portion is based on the results of an annual internal peer review process (where portfolio managers are evaluated by other portfolio managers, analysts, and traders) and management's assessment of overall portfolio manager contribution to the MFS investment process and the client experience (distinct from fund and other account performance).
The performance bonus is generally a combination of cash and a deferred cash award. A deferred cash award is issued for a cash value and becomes payable over a three-year vesting period if the portfolio manager remains in the continuous employ of MFS or its affiliates. During the vesting period, the value of the unfunded deferred cash award will fluctuate as though the portfolio manager had invested the cash value of the award in an MFS Fund(s) selected by the portfolio manager.
MFS Equity Plan - Portfolio managers also typically benefit from the opportunity to participate in the MFS Equity Plan. Equity interests are awarded by management, on a discretionary basis, taking into account tenure at MFS, contribution to the investment process, and other factors.
Finally, portfolio managers also participate in benefit plans (including a defined contribution plan and health and other insurance plans) and programs available generally to other employees of MFS. The percentage such benefits represent of any portfolio manager's compensation depends upon the length of the individual's tenure at MFS and salary level, as well as other factors.
Ownership of Fund Shares
The following table shows the dollar range of equity securities of the Fund beneficially owned by the Fund's portfolio manager(s) as of the Fund's fiscal year ended November 30, 2021. The following dollar ranges apply:
N. None
A. $1 - $10,000
B. $10,001 - $50,000
C. $50,001 - $100,000
D. $100,001 - $500,000
E. $500,001 - $1,000,000
F. Over $1,000,000
|
Name of Portfolio Manager |
Dollar Range of Equity Securities in Fund |
|
| Geoffrey Schechter | N | |
| Neeraj Arora | N | |
| Alexander Mackey | N |
Other Accounts
In addition to the Fund, each portfolio manager of the Fund is named as a portfolio manager of certain other accounts managed or sub-advised by MFS or an affiliate. The number and assets of these accounts were as follows as of the Fund's fiscal year ended November 30, 2021:
|
Registered Investment Companies* |
Other Pooled Investment Vehicles |
Other Accounts | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Name |
Number of Accounts |
Total Assets |
Number of Accounts |
Total Assets |
Number of Accounts |
Total Assets | ||||||||||||||||||
|
Geoffrey Schechter |
15 | $ | 28.4 billion | 4 | $ | 886.5 million | 1 | $ | 267.3 million | |||||||||||||||
|
Neeraj Arora |
6 | $ | 14.8 billion | 4 | $ | 3.2 billion | 5 | $ | 2.1 billion | |||||||||||||||
|
Alexander Mackey |
18 | $ | 40.8 billion | 5 | $ | 2.6 billion | 5 | $ | 436.1 million |
| * |
Includes the Fund |
Advisory fees are not based upon performance of any of the accounts identified in the table above.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
MFS seeks to identify potential conflicts of interest resulting from a portfolio manager's management of both the Fund and other accounts, and has adopted policies and procedures designed to address such potential conflicts. There is no guarantee that MFS will be successful in identifying or mitigating conflicts of interest.
The management of multiple funds and accounts (including accounts in which MFS or an affiliate has an interest) gives rise to conflicts of interest if the funds and accounts have different objectives and strategies, benchmarks, time horizons, and fees, as a portfolio manager must allocate his or her time and investment ideas across multiple funds and accounts. In certain instances, there are securities which are suitable for the Fund's portfolio as well as for one or more other accounts advised by MFS or its subsidiaries (including accounts in which MFS or an affiliate has an interest) with similar investment objectives. MFS' trade allocation policies could have a detrimental effect on the Fund if the Fund's orders do not get fully executed or are delayed in getting executed due to being
aggregated with those of other accounts advised by MFS or its subsidiaries. A portfolio manager may execute transactions for another fund or account that may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments. Investments selected for funds or accounts other than the Fund may outperform investments selected for the Fund.
When two or more accounts are simultaneously engaged in the purchase or sale of the same security, the securities are allocated among clients in a manner believed by MFS to be fair and equitable to each over time. Allocations may be based on many factors and may not always be pro rata based on assets managed. The allocation methodology could have a detrimental effect on the price or availability of a security with respect to the Fund.
MFS and/or a portfolio manager may have a financial incentive to allocate favorable or limited opportunity investments or structure the timing of investments to favor accounts other than the Fund; for instance, those that pay a higher advisory fee and/or have a performance adjustment and/or have a performance adjustment, those that include an investment by the portfolio manager, and/or those in which MFS, its officers and/or employees, and/or its affiliates own or have an interest.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, certain accounts may invest their assets in other accounts advised by MFS or its affiliates, including accounts that are advised by one or more of the same portfolio manager(s), which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of purchases and redemptions, and increased profitability for MFS, its affiliates, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.
| ITEM 9. |
PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS. |
| MFS Government Markets Income Trust | ||||||||||||||||
|
Period |
(a) Total number of Shares Purchased |
(b) Average Price Paid per Share |
(c) Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs |
(d) Maximum Number (or Approximate Dollar Value) of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased under the Plans or Programs |
||||||||||||
|
12/01/20-12/31/20 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
1/01/21-1/31/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
2/01/21-2/28/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
3/01/21-3/31/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
4/01/21-4/30/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
5/01/21-5/31/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
6/01/21-6/30/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
7/01/21-7/31/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
8/01/21-8/31/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
9/01/21-9/30/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,258,629 | ||||||||||||
|
10/1/21-10/31/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,285,629 | ||||||||||||
|
11/1/21-11/30/21 |
0 | N/A | 0 | 3,285,629 | ||||||||||||
|
Total |
0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
Note: The Board approved procedures to repurchase shares and reviews the results periodically. The notification to shareholders of the program is part of the semi-annual and annual reports sent to shareholders. These annual programs begin on October 1st of each year. The programs conform to the conditions of Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and limit the aggregate number of shares that may be purchased in each annual period (October 1 through the following September 30) to 10% of the Registrant's outstanding shares as of the first day of the plan year (October 1). The aggregate number of shares available for purchase for the October 1, 2021 plan year is 3,258,629.
| ITEM 10. |
SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS. |
There were no material changes to the procedures by which shareholders may send recommendations to the Board for nominees to the Registrant's Board since the Registrant last provided disclosure as to such procedures in response to the requirements of Item 407 (c)(2)(iv) of Regulation S-K or this Item.
| ITEM 11. |
CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES. |
| (a) |
Based upon their evaluation of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "Act")) as conducted within 90 days of the filing date of this Form N-CSR, the registrant's principal financial officer and principal executive officer have concluded that those disclosure controls and procedures provide reasonable assurance that the material information required to be disclosed by the registrant on this report is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules and forms. |
| (b) |
There were no changes in the registrant's internal controls over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Act) that occurred during the period covered by the report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting. |
| ITEM 12. |
DISCLOSURE OF SECURITIES LENDING ACTIVITIES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES. |
During the fiscal year ended November 30, 2021, there were no fees or income related to securities lending activities of the Registrant.
| ITEM 13. |
EXHIBITS. |
| (a) (1) |
Any code of ethics, or amendment thereto, that is the subject of the disclosure required by Item 2, to the extent that the registrant intends to satisfy the Item 2 requirements through filing of an exhibit: Attached hereto as EX-99.COE. |
| (2) |
A separate certification for each principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the registrant as required by Rule 30a-2(a) under the Act (17 CFR 270.30a-2): Attached hereto as EX-99.302CERT. |
| (3) |
Any written solicitation to purchase securities under Rule 23c-1 under the Act (17 CFR 270.23c-1) sent or given during the period covered by the report by or on behalf of the registrant to 10 or more persons. Not applicable. |
| (4) |
Change in the registrant's independent public accountant. Not applicable. |
| (b) |
If the report is filed under Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, provide the certifications required by Rule 30a-2(b) under the Act (17 CFR 270.30a-2(b)), Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13a-14(b) or 240.15d-14(b)) and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1350) as an exhibit. A certification furnished pursuant to this paragraph will not be deemed "filed" for the purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78r), or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Such certification will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the registrant specifically incorporates it by reference. Attached hereto as EX-99.906CERT. |
| (c) |
Registrant's Rule 30e-3 Notice pursuant to Item 1(b) of Form N-CSR. Attached hereto as EX-99.30e-3Notice. |
| (d) |
Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures pursuant to Item 7 of Form N-CSR. Attached hereto as EX-99.PROXYPOL. |
| (e) |
Notices to Trust's common shareholders in accordance with Investment Company Act Section 19(a) and Rule 19a-1. Attached hereto as EX-99.19a-1. |
Notice
A copy of the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust of the Registrant is on file with the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and notice is hereby given that this instrument is executed on behalf of the Registrant by an officer of the Registrant as an officer and not individually and the obligations of or arising out of this instrument are not binding upon any of the Trustees or shareholders individually, but are binding only upon the assets and property of the respective constituent series of the Registrant.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Registrant: MFS GOVERNMENT MARKETS INCOME TRUST
| By (Signature and Title)* | /S/ DAVID L. DILORENZO | |
| David L. DiLorenzo, President |
Date: January 14, 2022
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| By (Signature and Title)* | /S/ DAVID L. DILORENZO | |
|
David L. DiLorenzo, President (Principal Executive Officer) |
Date: January 14, 2022
| By (Signature and Title)* | /S/ JAMES O. YOST | |
|
James O. Yost, Treasurer (Principal Financial Officer and Accounting Officer) |
Date: January 14, 2022
| * |
Print name and title of each signing officer under his or her signature. |