Filed pursuant to Rule 497(k)

1933 Act File No. 033-52154

1940 Act File No. 811-07168

HENNESSY ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

Summary Prospectus

February 28, 2024

hennessyfunds.com  |  1-800-966-4354

The Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated February 28, 2024, as supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s Prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the Fund at no cost online at www.hennessyfunds.com/funds/fund-documents, by calling 1-800-966-4354 or 1-415-899-1555, or by emailing fundsinfo@hennessyfunds.com.

Investment Objective

 

The Hennessy Energy Transition Fund seeks total return.

 

Fund Fees and Expenses

 

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

 

EXAMPLE

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of this 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 and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that you reinvest all dividends and distributions, that your investment has a 5% return each year, and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on those assumptions, your costs would be:

 

 

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 was 28% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategy

 

The Fund invests in companies whose securities are listed on U.S. national securities exchanges, including through American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), which are U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers listed on U.S. national securities exchanges. Investments consist primarily of common stocks. The Fund may also invest up to 25% of its total assets in securities of energy-related master limited partnerships (“MLPs”). As a non-principal investment strategy, the Fund may also invest in securities such as preferred stocks, warrants, equity-like instruments, and debt instruments. With respect to up to 10% of its total assets, the Fund may invest in high-yield debt securities, preferred shares, and convertible securities (commonly referred to as “junk securities”). The Fund invests without regard to market capitalization.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in companies operating in the United States across the full spectrum of the energy supply/demand value chain, including traditional upstream, midstream, and downstream energy companies, as well as renewable energy companies and energy end users.

The Portfolio Managers use a proprietary research and investment process that involves fundamental and quantitative analysis of various macroeconomic and commodity price and other factors to select the Fund’s investments and determine the weighting of each investment. The Portfolio Managers may sell all or a portion of a position of the Fund’s portfolio holding for a number of reasons, including (1) the issuer’s fundamentals deteriorating, (2) the parameters established for the security’s profits or losses being realized, or (3) the Fund requiring cash to meet redemption requests.

 

Principal Risks

 

As with any security, there are market and investment risks associated with your investment in the Fund. The value of your investment will fluctuate over time, and it is possible to lose money. The principal risks of investing in the Fund include the following:

 

Industry Concentration Risk: The Fund concentrates its investments in the Energy sector, and its performance is therefore tied closely to, and affected by, developments in this industry. Companies in the Energy sector may be adversely affected by fluctuations in commodity prices, reduced supply or demand of energy commodities, the disruption of energy supplies transported on interstate pipelines, depletion of reserves, extreme weather or environmental hazards, accidents or other operating issues, changes in the regulatory environment, slowdowns in new construction, rising interest rates, and terrorist threats on energy assets.

 

 

MLP Risk: Investment in securities of an MLP involves risks that differ from investments in common stock, including risks related to limited control and limited rights to vote on matters affecting the MLP, risks related to potential conflicts of interest between the MLP and the MLP’s general partner, cash flow risks, dilution risks, and risks related to the general partner’s right to require unitholders to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price. Certain MLP securities may trade in lower volumes due to their smaller capitalizations. Accordingly, those MLPs may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements and may lack sufficient market liquidity to enable the Fund to effect sales at an advantageous time or without a substantial drop in price. MLPs are generally considered interest-rate sensitive investments. During periods when interest rates are rising, these investments may not provide attractive returns. If the Fund holds an MLP until its cost basis for tax purposes is reduced to zero, subsequent distributions received by the Fund will be taxed at ordinary income rates, and a shareholder may receive a corrected Form 1099.

 

MLP Tax Risk: A change in current tax law, or a change in the business of a given MLP, could result in an MLP being treated as a corporation or other form of taxable entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes. This would require the MLP to pay U.S. federal income tax, excise tax, or another form of tax on its taxable income, thereby reducing the amount of cash available for distribution by the MLP and potentially causing any distributions received by the Fund to be taxed as dividend income, return of capital, or capital gain. Therefore, if any MLPs owned by the Fund were treated as corporations or other forms of taxable entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the after-tax return to the Fund with respect to its investment in such MLPs could be materially reduced, which could cause a material decrease in the net asset value per share of the Fund’s shares. If the Fund holds an MLP until its cost basis for tax purposes is reduced to zero, subsequent distributions received by the Fund are taxed at ordinary income rates, and a shareholder may receive a corrected Form 1099. Furthermore, because the MLP itself does not pay federal income tax, its income or loss is allocated to its shareholders, including the Fund, regardless of whether the shareholders receive any cash payment from the MLP.

 

Foreign Securities Risk: The Fund may invest in foreign companies (i) whose securities are listed on U.S. national securities exchanges or (ii) through ADRs. There are specific risks associated with investing in foreign companies not typically associated with investing in domestic companies. Risks include the possibility of substantial price volatility or reduced liquidity as a result of political and economic instability or policy and legislative changes in the foreign country and reduced earnings potential due to significantly higher levels of taxation than U.S. companies, including potentially confiscatory levels of taxation. In addition, ADRs may not track the price of the underlying foreign securities on which they are based, and their value may change materially at times when U.S. markets are not open for trading.

Market and Equity Investments Risk: The market value of a security may move up or down, and these fluctuations may cause a security to be worth more or less than the price originally paid for it. Market risk may affect a single company, an industry, a sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of equity securities fluctuate due to many factors, including the past and predicted earnings of the issuer, the quality of the issuer’s management, general market conditions, political and other events, forecasts for the issuer’s industry, and the value of the issuer’s assets.

 

Tax Law Change Risk: Tax law is subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect, or to different interpretations. For example, tax legislation enacted in 2017 (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) resulted in fundamental changes to the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) (some of which are set to expire in 2025). More recently, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 added a 15% alternative minimum tax on large corporations and a 1% excise tax on repurchases of stock by publicly traded corporations and certain affiliates. Such legislation, as well as possible future U.S. tax legislation and administrative guidance, could materially affect the value of or tax consequences of your investment in the Fund. Prospective shareholders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the impact to them of possible changes in tax laws.

Small-Sized and Medium-Sized Companies Risk: The Fund invests in small-sized and medium-sized companies, which may have more limited liquidity and greater price volatility than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies may have limited product lines, markets, and financial resources, and their management may be dependent on fewer key individuals.

 

Cash Flow Risk: The Fund expects that a substantial portion of the cash flow it receives will be derived from its investments in MLPs. The amount and tax characterization of cash available for distribution by such companies depends upon the amount of cash generated by the such companies’ operations. Cash available for distribution may vary widely from quarter to quarter and will be affected by various factors affecting each company’s operations. The Fund periodically will distribute more than its income and net realized capital gains, which means a portion of each shareholder’s distribution would be a return of capital. A return of capital distribution reduces the basis of a shareholder’s shares so the shareholder may be required to recognize a capital gain when the shareholder sells shares.

 

RIC Qualification Risk: To qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under the Code, the Fund must meet certain income source, asset diversification, and annual distribution requirements. The Fund’s MLP investments may make it more difficult for the Fund to meet these requirements. The asset diversification requirements include a requirement that, at the end of each quarter of each taxable year, not more than 25% of the value of the Fund’s total assets is invested in the securities (including debt securities) of one or more qualified publicly traded partnerships. The Fund anticipates that the MLPs in which it invests will be

 

 

qualified publicly traded partnerships. If the Fund’s MLP investments exceed this 25% limitation, which could occur if the Fund’s investment in an MLP affiliate were recharacterized as an investment in an MLP, then the Fund would not satisfy the diversification requirements and could fail to qualify as a RIC. If, in any year, the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for any reason, the Fund would be taxed as a corporation and would become subject to corporate income tax. The resulting corporate taxes could substantially reduce the Fund’s net assets, the amount of income available for distribution, and the amount of the Fund’s distributions.

 

Liquidity Risk: The Fund may not be able to sell some or all of the investments that it holds due to a lack of demand in the marketplace or other factors such as market turmoil, or the Fund may be forced to sell an illiquid asset to meet redemption requests or other cash needs and may only be able to sell those investments at a loss. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value.

 

Temporary Defensive Positions Risk: From time to time, the Fund may take temporary defensive positions in response to adverse market, economic, or political conditions. To the extent the assets of the Fund are invested in temporary defensive positions, the Fund may not achieve its investment objective. For temporary defensive purposes, the Fund may invest in cash or short-term obligations.

 

Performance Information

 

The following performance information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in its performance from year to year and how the Fund’s average annual returns for one, five, and ten years compare with those of an index that reflects a broad measure of market performance, the S&P 500^® Index, as well as an additional index that reflects the market sector in which the Fund invests, the S&P 500^® Energy Index. For additional information on these indices, please see “Descriptions of Indices” on page 68 of the Prospectus. The Fund is the successor to the BP Capital TwinLine Energy Fund, a series of Professionally Managed Portfolios (the “Predecessor BP TwinLine Energy Fund”), pursuant to a reorganization that took place on October 26, 2018. The performance information provided for the periods on or prior to October 26, 2018, is historical information for the Predecessor BP TwinLine Energy Fund. The Predecessor BP TwinLine Energy Fund had a substantially similar investment objective and investment strategy as the Fund. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of future performance. Performance may be higher or lower in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.hennessyfunds.com.

 

HENNESSY ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS OF INVESTOR SHARES

For the period shown in the bar chart, the Fund’s highest quarterly return was 49.76% for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, and the lowest quarterly return was -59.88% for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

 

Performance of the Fund’s Institutional Class shares differs from that of the Fund’s Investor Class shares because the share classes have different expenses.

 

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

(for the periods ended December 31, 2023)

 

We use the S&P 500^® Energy Index as an additional index because it reflects the performance of investments similar to those of the Fund.

 

The after-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual stated federal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an individual investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and the 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. After-tax returns are shown for Investor Class shares only, and after-tax returns for Institutional Class shares will vary.

 

Investment Manager

 

Hennessy Advisors, Inc. is the investment manager of the Fund.

Portfolio Managers

 

Benton Cook, CFA, and L. Joshua Wein, CAIA, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the portfolio of the Fund and for developing and executing the Fund’s investment program. Mr. Cook has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since September 2019 and has been employed by the Investment Manager since January 2022. His service on the Fund prior to January 2022 was at the prior sub-advisor to the Fund, which he joined in 2017. Mr. Wein has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since January 2022 and has been employed by the Investment Manager since September 2018.

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Institutional Class shares are available only to shareholders who invest directly in Fund shares or who invest through certain broker-dealers or financial institutions that have entered into appropriate arrangements with a Fund.

To purchase Fund shares, you may contact your broker-dealer or other financial intermediary. To purchase Fund shares directly from the Hennessy Funds, or for assistance with completing your application, please call 1-800-966-4354 or 1-415-899-1555 between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Eastern time/6:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Pacific time on Monday through Thursday or between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern time/6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Pacific time on Friday (excluding holidays).  You may buy Fund shares any day the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) is open.

The minimum initial investment in Investor Class shares of a Fund is $2,500 for regular accounts and $250 for Individual Retirement Accounts.  The minimum initial investment in Institutional Class shares of a Fund is $250,000.  For corporate-sponsored retirement plans, there is no minimum initial investment for either Investor Class or Institutional Class shares.  There is no subsequent minimum investment requirement.  A $100 minimum exists for each additional investment made through an Automatic Investment Plan.  The Funds may waive the minimum investment requirements from time to time.  Investors purchasing Fund shares through financial intermediaries’ asset-based fee programs may have the above minimums waived by their intermediary, since the intermediary, rather than the Funds, absorbs the increased costs of small purchases.

You may redeem Fund shares each day the NYSE is open either by mail (Hennessy Funds, c/o U.S. Bank Global Fund Services, P.O. Box 701, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0701) or by calling the Transfer Agent at 1-800-261-6950 between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Eastern time/6:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific time on Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).  Investors who wish to redeem Fund shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary should contact the intermediary regarding the hours during which orders to redeem Fund shares may be placed.

 

Tax Information

 

The Funds’ distributions generally will be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains regardless of whether they are paid in cash or reinvested in Fund shares, unless you invest through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case such distributions may be taxable at a later date.

 

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Fund shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund, the Investment Manager, and their related companies may pay the intermediary for performing shareholder services or distribution-related services for the Fund, including, without limitation, administrative, sub-transfer agency type, recordkeeping, and shareholder communication services.  If made, these payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your financial adviser to recommend a Fund over another investment.  Similarly, such payments may cause financial intermediaries to elevate the prominence of the Fund within its organization by, for example, placing it on a list of preferred funds.  Ask your financial adviser or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.