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Value Line Larger Companies Focused Fund, Inc.
Value Line Larger Companies Focused Fund, Inc.
Investment objective
The Fund’s sole investment objective is to realize capital growth.
Fees and expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. There are no shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment) when you buy and sell shares of the Fund. Future expenses may be greater or less.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Value Line Larger Companies Focused Fund, Inc.
Investor Class
Institutional Class
Management Fees 0.75% 0.75%
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.23% 1.95%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.23% 2.70%
Less: Fee Waivers and Expense Reimbursement (0.10%) [1] (1.72%) [2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Fee Waivers and Expense Reimbursement 1.13% 0.98%
[1] EULAV Securities LLC (the "Distributor") has contractually agreed to waive a portion of the 12b-1 fee otherwise payable from assets attributable by Investor Class shares in an amount equal to 0.10% of such class's average daily net assets. This waiver can be terminated or changed before June 30, 2017 only with the approval of the Fund's board and the Distributor.
[2] EULAV Asset Management (the "Adviser") and the Distributor have agreed to waive certain class-specific fees and/or pay certain class-specific expenses incurred by the Institutional Class so that the Institutional Class bears its class-specific fees and expenses at the same percentage of its average daily net assets as the Investor Class's class-specific fees and expenses (excluding12b-1 fees and any extraordinary expenses incurred in different amounts by the classes) during the period March 17, 2016 through June 30, 2017 (the "Expense Limitation"). The information regarding the Institutional Class in the table has been restated to reflect the Expense Limitation. The Adviser and the Distributor may subsequently recover from assets attributable to the Institutional Class the reimbursed expenses and/or waived fees (within 3 years after the fiscal year end in which the waiver/reimbursement occurred) to the extent that the Institutional Class's expense ratio is less than the Expense Limitation. The Expense Limitation can be terminated or modified before June 30, 2017 only with the agreement of the Fund's board.
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated whether or not you redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same and that the fee waivers and expense reimbursements are in place through June 30, 2017 only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - Value Line Larger Companies Focused Fund, Inc. - USD ($)
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
Investor Class 115 380 666 1,480
Institutional Class 100 312 542 1,201
Portfolio turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate for the Investor Class and the Institutional Class was 37% of the average value of the portfolio.
Principal investment strategies of the Fund
To achieve the Fund’s investment objective, EULAV Asset Management (the “Adviser”) invests substantially all of the Fund’s assets in common stock. Under normal circumstances, the Adviser expects that the Fund’s portfolio will generally consist of positions in 30 to 50 companies. While the Fund is actively managed by the Adviser, the Adviser relies primarily on the rankings of companies by the Value Line TimelinessTM  Ranking System (the “Ranking System”) in selecting securities for purchase or sale. The Ranking System is a proprietary quantitative system that compares an estimate of the probable market performance of each stock within a universe during the next six to twelve months to that of all stocks within that universe and ranks stocks on a scale of 1 (highest) to 5 (lowest). The universe consists of stocks of approximately 1,700 companies under review by the Ranking System accounting for approximately 95% of the market capitalization of all stocks traded on the U.S. securities exchanges, including stocks of foreign companies. The Fund’s investments usually, as measured by the number and total value of purchases, are selected from common stocks of larger companies by capitalization that are ranked 1, 2, or 3 by the Ranking System; the Adviser usually sells a stock when its rank falls below 4. In addition to selling a stock when its rank falls below 4, the Adviser may sell securities for other reasons, such as to secure gains, limit losses or redeploy assets into more promising opportunities.
 
As described above, the Adviser relies primarily on the rankings of companies by the Ranking System in managing the Fund, and the Fund’s portfolio will consist primarily of stocks ranked 1, 2, or 3 by the Ranking System. The Adviser has, however, discretion in managing the Fund, including whether and which ranked stocks to include within the Fund’s portfolio, whether and when to buy or sell stocks based upon changes in their rankings, and the frequency and timing of rebalancing the Fund’s portfolio. The Adviser will determine the percentage of the Fund’s assets invested in each stock based on the stock’s relative attractiveness taking into account the potential risk and reward of each investment.
Principal risks of investing in the Fund
    Investing in any mutual fund involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment, and that you may lose part or all of your investment. Therefore, before you invest in the Fund you should carefully evaluate the risks.
     
  Market Risk. The chief risk that you assume when investing in the Fund is market risk, which is the possibility that the securities in a certain market will decline in value because of factors such as economic conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, an industry, a sector of the economy, or the market as a whole.
     
  Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities represent ownership in a corporation and their prices fluctuate for a number of reasons including issuer-specific events, market perceptions and general movements in the equity markets. The resulting fluctuation in the price of equity securities may take the form of a drastic movement or a sustained trend. If an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of bonds will take precedence over the claims of owners of common stocks. Historically, the prices of equity securities have fluctuated more than bond prices.
     
  Ranking System Risk. The Adviser’s use of the results of the Ranking Systems in managing the Fund involves the risk that the Ranking Systems may not have the predictive qualities anticipated by the Adviser or that over certain periods of time the price of securities not covered by the Ranking Systems, or lower ranked securities, may appreciate to a greater extent than those securities in the Fund’s portfolio.
     
  Active Management Risk. Because the Fund is actively managed, its investment return depends on the ability of the Adviser to manage its portfolio successfully. There can be no guarantee that the Adviser’s investment strategies will produce the desired results.
   
Foreign Investments Risk. Investing in foreign securities poses additional risks. The performance of foreign securities can be adversely affected by the different political, regulatory and economic environments in countries where the Fund invests, and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may also adversely affect the value of foreign securities. These risks tend to be more volatile in emerging markets (as compared to the U.S. market or developed foreign markets).
   
Cyber Security Risk. As the use of technology becomes more prevalent in the course of business, the Fund becomes more susceptible to operational, financial and information security risks resulting from cyber-attacks and/or technological malfunctions. Successful cyber-attacks and/or technological malfunctions affecting the Fund or its service providers can result in, among other things, financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, the inability to process transactions with shareholders or other parties and the release of private shareholder information or confidential Fund information. While measures have been developed which are designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security, there are inherent limitations in such measures and there is no guarantee those measures will be effective, particularly since the Fund does not directly control the cyber security measures of its service providers, financial intermediaries and companies in which it invests or with which it does business.
   
  An investment in the Fund is not a complete investment program and you should consider it just one part of your total investment program. An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. For a more complete discussion of risk, please turn to page 38.
Fund performance
This bar chart and table can help you evaluate the potential risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart below shows how returns for the Fund’s Investor Class shares have varied over the past ten calendar years, and the table below shows the average annual total returns (before and after taxes) of these shares for one, five, and ten years. These returns are compared to the performance of the S&P 500® Index, which is a broad based market index. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. No performance is shown for Institutional Class shares because this class had not completed a full calendar year of operations at December 31, 2015. Updated performance information is available at: www.vlfunds.com.
Total Returns of Investor Class (before taxes) as of 12/31 each year (%)
Bar Chart
Best Quarter:        Q1 2012         +13.79
Worst Quarter:     Q4 2008         –21.54 
 
After-tax returns in the table below are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”).
Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2015
Average Annual Total Returns - Value Line Larger Companies Focused Fund, Inc.
Label
1 year
5 years
10 years
Investor Class Return before taxes 9.88% 12.95% 6.98%
Investor Class | Return after taxes on distributions Return after taxes on distributions 8.44% 11.93% 5.67%
Investor Class | Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares Return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares 6.77% 10.34% 5.30%
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
1.38% 12.57% 7.31%