<PAGE> 1
SENTRY FUND, INC.
SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT
APRIL 30, 2000
[SENTRY FUND, INC. LOGO]
- NO SALES CHARGES -
- NO REDEMPTION FEES -
- NO 12b-1 FEES -
<PAGE> 2
SENTRY FUND, INC.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
The following presents information relating to a share of capital stock of
the Fund outstanding for the entire period:
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
YEAR ENDED OCTOBER 31,
-----------------------------------------------
FOR SIX MONTHS
ENDING 4-30-00 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995
-------------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period $ 17.64 $ 19.80 $ 23.95 $ 18.19 $ 16.29 $ 15.39
-------- ------- -------- -------- ------- --------
Income From Investment Operations
---------------------------------
Net Investment Income .04 .15 .11 .13 .17 .18
Net Realized and Unrealized Gains (Losses)
on Investments .07 (.19) (.30) 6.70 3.01 1.65
-------- ------- -------- -------- ------- --------
Total from Investment Operations .11 (.04) (.19) 6.83 3.18 1.83
Less Distributions
------------------
Dividends From Net Investment Income (.12) (.12) (.11) (.16) (.17) (.17)
Distribution From Net Realized Gains (2.51) (2.00) (3.85) (.91) (1.11) (.76)
-------- ------- -------- -------- ------- --------
Total Distributions (2.63) (2.12) (3.96) (1.07) (1.28) (.93)
Net Asset Value End of Period $ 15.12 $ 17.64 $ 19.80 $ 23.95 $ 18.19 $ 16.29
======== ======= ======== ======== ======= ========
Total Return 1.28%* (.57%) (.76%) 39.23% 20.60% 12.97%
Net Assets, End of Period (in Thousands) $ 85,867 $95,689 $111,850 $118,278 $97,154 $ 84,374
Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets .45% .84% .83% .83% .84% .86%
Ratio of Net Investment Income to
Average Net Assets .24% .81% .55% .61% .95% 1.17%
Portfolio Turnover Rate 68.56% 24.33% 29.85% 40.75% 28.28% 26.54%
</TABLE>
*The Total Return for the twelve months ended April 30, 2000 was -5.83%.
DIVIDEND NOTICE
On May 25, 2000, the Fund Directors declared a dividend from net investment
income of $.01 per share and a long-term capital gain distribution of $.09 per
share, payable June 8, 2000, to shareholders of record on June 6, 2000.
<PAGE> 3
SENTRY FUND, INC.
1800 North Point Drive - Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481
MESSAGE TO SHAREHOLDERS June 3, 2000
We are pleased to provide this Sentry Fund, Inc. report covering operating
results for the six-month period ended April 30, 2000.
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Average Annual
Total Return* Total Return*
------------- -------------
<S> <C> <C>
1 Year -5.83% -5.83%
5 Year 82.33% 12.76%
10 Year 209.65% 11.97%
</TABLE>
The U.S. economy continues strong growth driven by technological leadership
resulting in healthy productivity gains. Real GDP advanced 5.4% in the first
quarter of 2000. We expect the Internet and other new technological advancements
to continue to drive economic growth throughout the year.
The Federal Reserve Board remains concerned about the potential for inflation
increases as the length and strength of the economic expansion places strains on
labor availability. The Fed has raised rates five times over the last 12 months.
We expect the Fed to raise rates again in May and at least one more time in
2000.
The stock market advanced in 1999 but has had a rocky ride so far in 2000.
Technology stocks have been the good news and bad news for the markets. The
rapid rise of this sector in 1999 had led to dramatically increasing volatility
and some large declines in 2000. We expect this to continue as investors try to
come to grips with historically high stock valuations.
Over the last two years the Sentry Fund's performance has not kept pace with the
broader stock market. Within the last six months we have taken steps to expand
our diversification to respond to changing trends within the markets. We believe
these steps will help us to achieve our goal of long-term capital appreciation.
Your continued support is appreciated, and we look forward to reporting our
12-month financial results in the Fund's Annual Report published in December.
Sincerely,
/s/ James J. Weishan
James J. Weishan
President
*"Total Return" is calculated including reinvestment of all income dividends and
capital gain distributions. Results represent past performance and do not
indicate future results. Both the value of an investment in the Fund and the
return on the investment will fluctuate, and redemption proceeds may be higher
or lower than an investor's original cost. When first organized in 1970, the
Fund applied a sales charge to each share purchase. The Fund's sales charge
was eliminated on March 1, 1991. The performance data shown does not reflect
its deduction; and had it been reflected, the charge would reduce the
performance quoted.
<PAGE> 4
PORTFOLIO OF INVESTMENT SECURITIES - April 30, 2000 SENTRY FUND, INC.
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
VALUE
SHARES COMMON STOCKS (95.3%) (NOTE 1)
------ --------------------- --------
<S> <C> <C>
BASIC MATERIALS (1.3%)
9,200 Great Lakes Chemical Corp $ 247,825
7,500 International Paper Co 275,625
5,900 PPG Industries Inc 320,813
4,700 Reynolds Metals Co 312,550
BUSINESS SERVICE (3.0%)
20,000 Fiserve, Inc 918,750
15,000 Sybron International Corp. (Wis) 466,875
50,000 Tetra Tech Inc 1,178,125
CAPITAL GOODS (4.0%)
8,200 Boeing Co 325,437
7,900 Caterpillar Inc 311,556
17,700 General Electric 2,783,325
COMPUTER EQUIPMENT (10.7%)
36,600 Cisco Systems Inc 2,537,409
13,400 Dell Computer Corp 671,675
5,300 Emc Corp 736,369
5,300 Hewlett Packard Co 715,500
15,000 Int'l. Business Machines Corp 1,674,375
40,000 Methode Electronics Inc 1,666,875
3,800 Motorola Inc 452,438
8,400 Sun Microsystems 772,275
CONSUMER PRODUCT (1.6%)
8,000 Gillette Co 296,000
6,700 Kimberly-Clark Corp 389,019
12,000 Newel Rubbermaid Inc 302,250
7,000 Proctor & Gamble Co 417,375
CONSUMER SERVICE (1.2%)
7,500 Block (H & R), Inc 313,594
60,000 Regis Corp 701,250
DRUG & HEALTH CARE (7.0%)
6,600 American Home Products Corp 370,838
4,600 Amgen Inc 257,600
5,300 Baxter International Inc 345,162
13,000 Becton-Dickinson & Co 333,125
11,800 Boston Scientific Corp 312,700
10,600 Bristol-Myers Squibb Co 555,838
1,060 Edwards Lifesciences Corp 15,900
5,300 Guident Corp 304,087
7,300 Johnson & Johnson 602,250
10,000 Medquist Inc 354,375
12,600 Merck & Co. Inc 875,700
20,700 Pfizer Inc 871,988
7,800 Schering-Plough Corp 314,437
4,600 Warner Lambert Co 523,538
ENERGY (6.6%)
17,300 Apache Corp 837,969
18,400 Exxon Mobil Corporation 1,429,450
250,000 Petroglyph Engery Inc 375,000
11,500 Royal Dutch Petroleum 659,812
10,400 Schlumberger LTD 796,250
12,000 Texaco, Inc 594,000
9,300 Tosco Corp 298,181
27,000 USX-Marathon Group 629,438
ENTERTAINMENT (2.8%)
12,600 Carnival Corp 313,425
17,300 Disney (Walt) Co. (The) 749,306
8,900 Time Warner Inc 800,444
13,600 Tribune Co 528,700
FINANCIAL (9.0%)
3,900 American Express Co 585,244
48,290 Associated Banc-Corp 1,234,413
9,100 Bank of America Corp 445,900
12,000 Bank of New York Cos. Inc 492,750
4,700 Chase Manhattan Corp 338,694
18,000 Citigroup Inc 1,069,875
10,900 Federal National Mortgage 657,406
14,300 First Union Corp 455,813
27,700 Firstar Corp 689,037
14,500 Home Federal Bancorp. Co 244,687
2,800 Morgan (JP) Co. Inc 359,450
9,700 Morgan Stanley Dean Witter 744,475
10,700 Wells Fargo Co 439,369
<CAPTION>
VALUE
SHARES (NOTE 1)
------ --------
<S> <C> <C>
FOOD & BEVERAGES (2.9%)
4,400 Anheuser Bush Cos. Inc 310,475
12,800 Coca-Cola Co 602,400
15,900 Conagra Inc 300,113
7,600 Hershey Foods Corp 344,850
16,600 Kroger Co 308,137
9,300 Pepsico Inc 341,194
18,200 Sara Lee Corp 273,000
INSURANCE (1.1%)
8,300 American Int'l Group 910,406
INTERNET(2.0%)
16,900 America Online Inc 1,010,831
5,100 Yahoo Inc 664,275
MANUFACTURING (12.6%)
50,000 Applied Power 1,431,250
20,000 Black & Decker Corp 841,250
63,000 ITI Technologies 1,618,313
90,000 Manitowoc Co. Inc 2,986,874
50,000 Oshkosh Truck Corp 1,575,000
80,000 Rayovac Corp 1,670,000
12,700 Snap-On Inc 335,756
7,700 Tyco International 353,719
RESTAURANT (6.2%)
118,250 Consolidated Products 1,079,031
96,400 Ihop Corp 1,566,500
15,000 McDonald's Corp 571,875
39,400 Morton's Restaurant Group 748,600
10,000 Rare Hospitality International 309,375
50,000 Ruby Tuesday Inc 1,046,875
RETAIL (4.7%)
5,700 Costco Wholesale Corp 308,156
13,300 Federated Department Stores 452,200
7,600 Gap Inc 279,300
12,000 Home Depot Inc 672,750
24,000 Wal-Mart Stores 1,329,000
35,000 Walgreen Company 984,375
SEMICONDUCTORS(4.0%)
4,800 Applied Materials Inc 488,700
17,800 Intel Corp 2,257,262
4,300 Texas Instruments Inc 700,363
SOFTWARE & SERVICES (5.6%)
9,500 BMC Software Inc 444,719
3,800 Citrix System Inc 232,037
8,900 Computer Associates International 496,731
5,900 Computer Science Corp 481,219
27,900 Microsoft Corp 1,946,025
15,300 Oracle Corp 1,223,044
TELECOM(7.2%)
17,200 AT&T Corp 803,025
8,100 Bell Atlantic Corp 479,925
10,000 Bellsouth Corp 486,875
5,100 GTE Corp 345,525
24,000 Lucent Technologies Inc 1,492,500
15,300 MCI Worldcom Inc 695,194
7,100 Nortel Networks Corp 804,075
2,500 Qualcomm Inc 271,094
18,200 SBC Communications 797,387
TOBACCO (0.5%)
20,000 Philip Morris Cos., Inc 437,500
TRANSPORTATION (1.3%)
13,100 Ford Motor Co 716,406
10,000 Harley-Davidson, Inc 398,125
----------
Total Common Stocks 81,817,522
(cost $73,638,134) ----------
<CAPTION>
PRINCIPAL
AMOUNT SHORT-TERM SECURITIES (2.5%)
------ ----------------------------
<S> <C> <C>
COMMERCIAL PAPER - DISCOUNTED
1,490,000 American Express Credit Corp.
Note due 5/3/00 1,489,507
688,000 Ford Motor Credit Corp.
Note due 5/5/00 687,540
---------
TOTAL SHORT-TERM SECURITIES 2,177,047
---------
(COST $2,177,047)
TOTAL INVESTMENTS (97.8%) 83,994,569
(COST $69,032,676)
(CASH AND RECEIVABLES)
LESS LIABILITIES (2.2%) 1,872,438
-----------
NET ASSETS (100%) $85,867,007
===========
</TABLE>
<PAGE> 5
SENTRY FUND, INC.
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
April 30, 2000 For the Six Months Ended April 30, 2000
(Unaudited) (Unaudited)
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
ASSETS: INVESTMENT INCOME:
Investments in securities, at Income:
value (cost $75,815,181) $83,994,569 Dividends $501,618
Interest 108,798
Cash 104,935 Total investment income --------- $610,416
Receivables:
Investment securities sold 1,904,424 Expenses:
Dividends 58,308 Investment advisory fees 334,429
Total assets ----------- $86,062,236 Transfer agent fees 15,116
Professional services 6,423
LIABILITIES: Printing, stationery and postage 5,736
Investment advisory fees 160,971 Licenses and fees 16,242
Transfer agent fees 2,531 Directors' fees 1,500
Custodian fees 1,077 Other expenses 20,465
Professional services 14,252 Total expenses ---------- 399,911
Insurance coverage 8,890 ----------
Printing charges payable 5,408 Net investment income $210,505
Redemption payable 2,100 ----------
Total liabilities ----------- 195,229 NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN
----------- ON INVESTMENTS:
NET ASSETS $85,867,007 Net realized gain on sales of
=========== investments 19,120,961
Decrease in unrealized appreciation
ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS: of investments (18,482,223)
Paid in capital $58,415,053 ----------
Undistributed net investment income 91,551 Net realized and unrealized gain
Accumulated undistributed net realized gain on investments 638,738
on sales of investments 19,181,015 ----------
Net unrealized appreciation on investments 8,179,388 Net increase in net assets resulting
-----------
Net assets, for 5,679,736 shares outstanding $85,867,007 from operations $849,243
=========== ==========
Net Asset Value and
Redemption and Offering Price per Share $15.12
===========
</TABLE>
See accompanying notes to financial statements
<PAGE> 6
SENTRY FUND, INC.
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
For the Six Months Ended April 30, 2000 and 1999
(Unaudited)
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
2000 1999
---- ----
<S> <C> <C>
INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS
OPERATIONS:
Net investment income $ 210,505 $ 445,300
Net realized gain on sales
of investments 19,120,961 6,158,108
(Decrease) Increase in unrealized
appreciation on investments (18,482,223) 823,542
------------- -------------
Net change in net assets
resulting from operations 849,243 7,426,950
------------- -------------
DISTRIBUTIONS:
Dividends from net investment income (638,645) (449,137)
Distributions of net realized gains (13,358,322) (10,779,294)
------------- -------------
Total distributions to shareholders (13,996,967) (11,228,431)
------------- -------------
CAPITAL SHARE TRANSACTIONS:
Net proceeds from sale of shares 1,624,372 2,255,738
Net asset value of shares issued to
shareholders in reinvestment
of distributions 13,770,081 11,068,006
------------- -------------
15,394,453 13,323,744
Cost of shares redeemed (12,068,817) (12,403,489)
------------- -------------
Net increase in net assets derived
from share transactions 3,325,636 920,255
------------- -------------
Total decrease in net assets (9,822,088) (2,881,226)
NET ASSETS:
Beginning of period 95,689,095 111,849,574
------------- -------------
End of period $ 85,867,007 $ 108,968,348
============= =============
</TABLE>
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(Unaudited)
1. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Sentry Fund, Inc. (Fund) is registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as a
diversified, open-end management investment company. The financial state-
ments have been prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles which require management to make certain estimates and
assumptions at the date of the financial statements. Actual results could
differ from those estimates.
The following summarizes the significant accounting policies of the Fund.
Security Valuation - Portfolio securities which are traded on a national
securities exchange are valued at the last price as of the close of trading
on the New York Stock Exchange or, if there has been no sale on that day,
at the last bid price. Securities traded on the over-the-counter market are
valued at the mean between the last quoted bid and asked prices. Short-term
securities are stated at amortized cost, which approximates current value.
Federal Income and Excise Taxes - No provision for Federal income or excise
taxes is considered necessary since the Fund intends to distribute to its
shareholders substantially all of its taxable income, and to otherwise
comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to
regulated investment companies.
Investment Income and Security Transactions - Security transactions are
accounted for on the trade date. Dividend income and distributions to
shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date and the record date,
respectively. Interest income is recognized when earned. Realized gains and
losses from securities transactions are determined by comparing the
identified cost of the security lot sold with the net sales proceeds.
2. INVESTMENT ADVISORY FEES AND OTHER TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Under the terms of its investment advisory agreement with Sentry Investment
Management, Inc., the Fund pays an advisory fee equal to .75% of the
average daily net asset value of the Fund. However, under the terms of the
agreement, if the total annual expenses of the Fund (excluding taxes,
portfolio brokerage commissions and interest, but including investment
advisory fees) exceed 1.5% of the first $30,000,000 and 1% of the balance
of the average daily net asset value of the Fund in any one fiscal year,
the investment adviser will reimburse the Fund for such excess.
3. PURCHASES AND SALES OF SECURITIES
Purchases and sales of common stock aggregated $58,729,343 and $70,798,500,
respectively.
See accompanying notes to financial statements
<PAGE> 7
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Thomas R. Copps
David W. Graebel
William J. Lohr
Dale R. Schuh, Chairman
Steven J. Umland
OFFICERS
James J. Weishan, President
Wallace D. Taylor, Vice President
William M. O'Reilly, Secretary
William J. Lohr, Treasurer
INVESTMENT ADVISER
Sentry Investment Management, Inc.
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
UNDERWRITER
Sentry Equity Services, Inc.
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
CUSTODIAN
Citibank, N.A.
New York, New York
LEGAL COUNSEL
Godfrey & Kahn
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
This report has been prepared for the general information of shareholders of the
Fund and is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors unless
preceded or accompanied by an effective Prospectus which contains other
pertinent information.
