In what must be approaching a record both in Australia and overseas, Fortitude's local fund has continued its low volatility approach to risk and returns without a negative month since December 2007. In 2008 Fortitude returned investors 12.29% and has now returned an annualised 11.54% since inception in March 2005 with a standard deviation (volatility) of 2.97%.

1 year return: +11.96%. Annual (Mar.2005): +11.54%

Attention to risk has seen Fortitude produce 94% positive months and a maximum drawdown of just -0.50%.

The manager noted another relatively quiet and choppy month for all asset classes, making some gains on their long volatility positions and realisation of their REIT holdings. They also noted that volatility levels have fallen to levels where risk and rewards are tipped in favour of their long volatility strategy.

1 year return: -11.79%. Annual (Mar.2007): +2.31%

Shell Cove was established by Richard Jenkins in 2004 following a 20 year career with Macquarie Bank.

The Ascot fund produced a positive return in 2008 of +5.24% and has now produced an annualised return of +12.80% since inception in August 2005. The fund, which has recently received a new mandate of $10m from an Australian family office to take its FUM to over $60m, uses a combination of fundamental research, with technical overlays and long volatility options for timing and risk implementation, to invest in Australian equities.

1 year return: +2.3%. Annual (Aug.2005): +12.8%

ARCM is managed by Craig Connolly, with Tony Cooper and Peter Lucas from Melbourne and boasts an enviable risk record with 72% positive months and a maximum drawdown of -3.44%.

Prodigal's Asian (ex Japan) Equity fund, which utilises model trading, convertible and risk arbitrage, has maintained its positive track record in 2009 following a tough second half of 2008 when September and October losses produced a -20.35% return.

1 year return: +7.14%. Annual (June 2007): +7.63%

The fund was established in June 2007 and has annualised return since that time of 7.63%

Although reporting a disappointing 12 month return, the fund has now produced an average annualised return over 10 years of 16.7% after fees, against its benchmark the ASX300 Accumulation index which has returned 7.1% over the same period.

1 year return: -17.6%. Annual (Apr.1998): +15.7%

The fund which invests predominantly in Australian equities and is open to retail investors, was established in April 1998 and has approximately $230m in funds under management.

Commenting on the results, the manager noted that the question now facing equity markets is whether the current rally is the start of a more sustainable rally, stating that the key will be a continual improvement in economic data to build on the recent positive figures, in particular, news on consumer spending and the growth in leading emerging markets will be most important. The general improvement in credit market sentiment, a pick up in the flow of credit to the private sector and the very strong investor appetite for recent equity placements are, in the manager's opinion, positive developments for risk assets.

1 year return: +4.7%. Annual (Oct.2005): +8.1%

RTM was established in October 2005 and returned 6.57% in 2008.

In spite of outperforming its benchmark (the UBS Global 50/50 Infrastructure and Utility Index) over the past 12 months, the manager failed to make any headway over the past quarter when it returned +4.97% vs. the Index which rose 10.5%. On June 4th the manager moved to 100% cash to commence a strategic review of both strategy and option overlay as it sought to enhance option premium income, and ensure that it is able to capture opportunities in the sector.

1 year return: +4.97%. Annual (Dec.2007): -1.21%

The Trust's manager, Talon Infrastructure Pty Ltd noted that risk appetite returned during the past quarter although it looked a little tired after the strong rally from March lows. The manager's outlook is currently cautious given the market's recent strong bounce, noting that the global economy remains highly leveraged which ultimately must be reduced.

The trust paid a distribution of $0.33 for the six months to June, taking the twelve month distribution of $0.90 for a yield of 9.72%. Meanwhile the trust's assets remain fully invested in cash as it finalises the strategic review.

The manager noted that with the exception of Relative Value, most strategies struggled as markets generally lacked direction in June, with trading characterised by choppy price movements. The month also saw an uncharacteristically high level of correlation between the fund's longer-term directional trading with those trades generated via shorter term signals.

1 year return: +30.17%. Annual (Oct.1996): +18.73%

The manager also noted that key volatility indices were lower to flat, with risk barometers like the VIX falling to lows not seen since Lehman Brother's collapse last September. Those systems that were active returned losses as a result of the late month ranges in currency and equity markets.

Argus' trading style is based on the systematic application of a group of non-correlated systems to a broad range of more than 75 global futures markets. The fund's manager, Steven Biggs, has a track record dating back to 1996, and commenced trading client's funds in June 2005, returning a compound annual return of over 17% since that time. FUM is US$23m.

Arnott made the most of their gains in June from short term trading, with share class arbitrage and volatility components of the fund flat for the month. Regionally Japan was the strongest contributor with 70% of profits, followed by Australia with Hong Kong/China slightly detracting from performance.

1 year return: +0.97%. Annual (Nov.2005): +9.25%

Looking ahead the manager expects profits to continue to come from trading and shorter term fundamental ideas in the second half, particularly from Japan and Asia, and notes it has hired four traders in the last nine months with the aim of capturing opportunities across the region.

Arnott's Long/Short Opportunities Fund was established in November 2005 and has maintained positive annual returns every year since then, including in 2008. The fund's investment universe is primarily pan Asian and employs a three stage process: fundamental research; event screens and finally a derivative based trading methodology incorporating risk/reward analysis for position entry and exit. The firm's total FUM was US$479 as of the end of June.

Macquarie noted a number of positive developments over the past two months, including the removal of short selling restrictions in all markets except Korean financial stocks, a decline in share price volatility as investors became more comfortable, and an increase of inflows into equity markets. The manager also noted that a JP Morgan research paper dated 6th July was entitled "Good times ahead for Quant Strategies."

1 year return: -3.53%. Annual (Oct.2005): +10.46%

MQ's Asian quantitative L/S fund was established in October 2005 and has a total of US$155m in FUM following significant redemptions in 2008 which saw FUM fall from over US$800m. The fund's return in 2008 was -8.93%, following returns of +20% in the previous two years.