NEWS
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
13 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Morphic Global Opportunities Fund recorded 6.77% for May bringing its since inception (Aug 2012) return to 28.7%.
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13 Jun 2013 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Taken as a whole, global stocks in local currency terms were volatile, but largely unchanged by month end. The Australian dollar fell 7.7% against the US dollar. The decision to remain unhedged accounted for all the Fund's gains and a little more. The Fund's top thematic contribution came from a tilt to US financial stocks, led by Wells Fargo and a basket of regional banks. A long-short position in Asian gambling stocks also added performance, as did a basket of stocks expected to benefit from a revival in leverage buyouts. Outside these themes, the largest individual gains came from Irish packaging company Smurfit Kappa; US shoe maker Crocs; Korean cable shopping network GS Home Shopping; US health company Herbalife; Pakistan's Lucky Cement; and US hard disk maker Western Digital. From a macroeconomic perspective, the month saw little improvement in underlying data, but increasing fears about how markets would react to any reduction in the rate of US money printing. The Manager expects nervousness and risk aversion to remain high, and since month end has trimmed net exposure and gone substantially underweight emerging markets. |
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Allard Investment Fund
12 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Allard Investment Fund returned 6.30% during May with its twelve month return standing at 14.59%.
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12 Jun 2013 - Allard Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | At the end of May the Fund was 67.3% invested and in terms of country exposures the largest was HK/China 31.4%, followed by Singapore at 13.0% and Korea at 10.3%. In terms of industry exposures the largest was financials at 13.7% followed by conglomerates at 12.4% and telco's at 8.2%. The top ten holdings accounted for 51.8% of the total portfolio. |
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Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
11 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust, showing KPI's for May 2013 vs ASX200 Acc, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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11 Jun 2013 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Optimal Australia Absolute Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- Optimal Australia is a specialist Australian equity investment manager established in 2008.
- The Fund's long/short equity strategy portfolio typically has a low but variable net market exposure comprising 40 to 65 stock broadly selected from within the ASX200.
- The investment team comprising George Colman, Peter Whiting and Stephen Nicholls have close to 90 years combined experience in equity markets.
- Consistent out-performance of the market: Approximately 84 % of monthly performances have been positive with a largest drawdown of -1.38%.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
11 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Optimal Australia Absolute Trust achieved 1.22% during May with a since inception (Sept '08) return of 11.48% pa.
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11 Jun 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund's bias is likely to be net long under normal market conditions, with the core strategy being to construct a portfolio of listed equity securities priced at levels that do not adequately reflect their underlying value. The Fund will seek to boost returns and limit potential market downside by selective short selling of individual stocks which are priced at levels that are viewed as materially above their underlying value. The Fund will also use certain trading strategies both within its core portfolio (through rebalancing stock weights and overall market exposure in response to price movements) and in certain other situations (typically of a shorter-duration and/or opportunistic nature) with the objective of further increasing returns. |
| Manager Comments | Major contributors to the Trust's return for the month was driven by a return from both long investments (+0.22% attribution) and shorts (+1.25% attribution). The Australian equity market was very weak in May, finishing down 5.1%. There was a sharp reversal in the pattern of leadership, with the market led down by high-yield defensive and financials, and with the consumer staples and financial sectors both falling by over 9%. A key influence behind this was the decline in the AUD, which fell almost 7% during the month, to USD 0.966. The manager had the view that the AUD 'carry' trade (offshore yield-seeking investment) has worked its way right across the fixed income spectrum and into higher-yield equities. This 'carry' buying, when added to support from retail investors and (largely passive) institutional money flows, meant that way too much money was on this same trade. The result was a number of stocks in the broad yield category trading at valuations that were bewildering (at least to us) on almost any other metric, and the weaker currency in May was the trigger for a decent very decent correction in this group. |
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K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund
7 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund returned 2.38% during April to bring the twelve month performance to 33.82%.
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7 Jun 2013 - K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund's net exposure band has been maintained at 80% to 100%, ending the month at 96%, marginally lower than April. Increasing volatility in recent weeks together with seasonal weakness justifies a wider trading band with respect to the fund's net exposure.With the AUD's substantial fall against the USD total currency gains for the fund were approximately 288bps. Given forward PE valuations remain well below long term averages, the attractiveness of equities remains in place. The longer term question facing the region is how well China responds to the new leadership's shift of growth drivers away from government led stimulus towards a more private sector led economy. |
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Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
7 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund, showing KPI's for May 2013 vs ASX200, Performance (net of fees) and Cumulative Performance since inception.
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7 Jun 2013 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund (pdf format)
http://www.fundmonitors.com/_showfile.php?FID=8361
BENNELONG LONG SHORT EQUITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- Research driven, market and sector neutral, "pairs" trading strategy investing primarily in large cap stocks from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with a ten year track record and annualised net returns of over 20% .
- Portfolio Manager Richard Fish has over 25 years market experience, while Bennelong Funds Management, who have over $3 billion in FUM across various funds, provide infrastructure, operational and compliance functions.
- The Fund's Investment history commenced in January 2002 and has positive annual returns each year, including an 11.95% return in 2008 and 20.6% in 2011, both of which were negative years for the ASX200.
- Consistent returns across the investment history indicates the Fund's ability to provide positive returns in volatile and negative markets and significantly outperform the broader market.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund (pdf format)
Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
6 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund delivered 0.4% during May and the twelve month return now stands at 18.46%.
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6 Jun 2013 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 30 to 40 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks in the long side of the portfolio, although in a rising market the portfolio will tend to hold smaller caps, including resource stocks, more frequently. The Fund was launched on 17th August 2011 following the resignation of Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder from Herschel Asset Management in late July 2011. While at Herschel Burgess and Rehder had managed the Fund under the name of the Herschel Absolute Return Fund. As a result management of the Fund was transferred to Kardinia Capital, a new boutique fund manager 65% owned by Burgess and Rehder, with the balance owned by Bennelong Funds Management. The Fund's investment strategy and prior track record remains intact. |
| Manager Comments | The Australian equity market (All Ordinaries Accumulation Index) fell 4.39% in May, heavily under-performing its global peers. Following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress, equities markets fell on heightened concerns that the FED would wind down the $85 billion per month asset purchase program earlier than expected. Domestic investors rotated away from yield towards foreign currency exposed stocks. A number of profit warnings were announced by domestic cyclicals and companies operating in the mining services sectors. |
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Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
5 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Long Short Fund had a remarkable May delivering 9.49% and its twelve month performance to 19.89%.
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5 Jun 2013 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Once again, May proved to be a tough month for the S&P/ASX200 Index, finishing down 5.1%. A slew of profit warnings concentrated mainly across the domestic cyclical and mining services sectors dented investor confidence whilst some weak domestic economic data together with a surprise RBA rate cut further eroded sentiment. A breakdown in the AUDUSD (-7.3%) and rising bond yields (US 10 year bond yield +46bps to 2.13% and Australia 10 year bond yield +27bps to 3.36%) saw a rotation out of yield names and into resources. The portfolio had a pleasing month, with both the long and short portfolios positively contributing to performance. The long portfolio returned 30% of the total return with the shorts delivering 70%, mainly on the back of strong performances from some of the longs which have USD exposure whilst the sell off across domestic cyclicals helped our short portfolio. |
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Blackrock Global Allocation Fund (Class D)
4 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Blackrock Global Allocation Fund returned 2.04% in April, in line with its benchmark, and 14.10% over the preceding 12 months.
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4 Jun 2013 - Blackrock Global Allocation Fund (Class D)
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The G.A. Team believes that competitive returns with low to moderate levels of risk can be achieved through a flexible, research intensive, value-oriented approach that seeks the best investment opportunities worldwide, broadly diversified across asset classes, countries and securities. The Fund's current investment strategy is to invest in global equities, fixed income and cash. The Fund aims to maximise total investment returns while managing risk and is generally diversified across markets, industries and issuers. In selecting equity investments, the Fund mainly seeks to invest in securities which are believed to be undervalued. The Fund may buy fixed income securities of varying maturities. While the Fund can, and does, look for investments in all the markets of the world, it will typically invest a majority of its assets in the securities of companies and governments located in North and South America, Europe and Asia. In making investment decisions,the G.A. Team aims to identify the long-term trends and changes that could benefit particular markets and/or industries relative to other markets and industries. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund also remains overweight Japanese equities based on attractive valuations, anticipation of further accommodative monetary policy, and potential for enduring negative sentiment and underinvestment in Japan to reverse. Importantly, much of the Japanese yen (JPY) exposure in the Fund has been hedged given the possibility of more aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan. |
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Bennelong ex-20 Australian Equities Fund
3 Jun 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong ex-20 Australian Equities Fund had a strong April returning 3.04%, well ahead of its benchmark of 0.49%.
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3 Jun 2013 - Bennelong ex-20 Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Bennelong ex-20 Australian Equities Fund aims to outperform the return generated that is generated by the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index excluding that part of the return that is generated by the stocks comprised in the S&P/ASX 20 Leaders Index, which represents the 20 largest stocks by market capitalisation in Australia, by 4% per annum after fees on a rolling three-year basis by actively managing a portfolio of primarily Australian shares. The companies within the portfolio are primarily selected from, but not limited to, the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index excluding the S&P/ASX 20 Leaders Index. The Fund may invest in securities listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities. Derivative instruments are mainly used to replicate underlying positions and hedge market company-specific risks. The Fund typically holds between 20 and 60 stocks. The Fund's maximum net targeted position of an individual stock is 10%. Bennelong's investment process combines bottom-up fundamental analysis together with proprietary investment tools which are used to build and maintain high quality portfolios that are risk aware. |
| Manager Comments | The Australian equity market (S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index ex-top 20) closed up 0.49% in April, with investors favouring defensive yield plays over Resources, which were sold down on weak Chinese economic data. The market is currently trading on 14.4x consensus earnings forecasts for next year, which are expected to grow 8.6%, with a corresponding dividend yield of 4.1%. Although global economic growth is being impacted by the European recession and slower growth in China, the outlook for Australian earnings, particularly in the non-resource sectors, is showing signs of improvement. The portfolio has a bias to high quality companies that are well positioned to deliver positive earnings surprise, relative to expectations, at inexpensive valuations. The largest sector exposure is Consumer Discretionary at 47.9%. |
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