NEWS
21 Aug 2015 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund July 2015
BENNELONG LONG SHORT EQUITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund.
- The Fund is a research driven, market and sector neutral, "pairs" trading strategy investing primarily in large cap stocks from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with over twelve year track record and annualised returns of 17.97%.
- The 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. The Fund's Sharpe Ratio and Sortino Ratio are 1.08 (Index 0.34) and 1.85 (Index 0.38) respectively.
20 Aug 2015 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce positive returns irrespective of the direction of the share market. For each investment the manager considers the risk, the timeline of that risk occurring and then the potential return. Low transaction costs and liquidity are other important factors in the success and implementation of the strategies. |
| Manager Comments | It was the Yield (+0.27%), Convergence (+0.14%)and Long/Short (+0.11%) trading strategies that provided biggest positive contribution to the portfolio. The Options strategy (-0.07%) initially benefited from continued volatility across miners and banks. Volatility fell dramatically in the second half of the month with the Australian VIX falling -27% to 14.5 by the end of the month. This was an attractive level and the Fund added to volatility positions and increased exposure to this strategy at month end. Click below to read more on the Fund's performance. |
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19 Aug 2015 - Fund Review: Morphic Global Opportunities Fund July 2015
MORPHIC GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Morphic Global Opportunities Fund.
Key points include:
- The Fund is a global equity long/short manager with a long bias and a macro-economic overlay. The mandate allows the Fund to short sell, use derivatives and invest in assets such as commodities & currencies.
- Morphic's philosophy is that only funds with flexible investment and hedging strategies will be able to deliver acceptable, steady, real, absolute returns over the investment cycle.
- The Fund is an early stage, boutique, Sydney-based fund established in 2012 with experienced CIO's, and an investment team of 6 including a risk manager.
- The Board has a majority of independent members with significant risk and investment experience.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
19 Aug 2015 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
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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 | The Fund's long positions rose broadly in-line with the market - key performers included a number of financials (AMP, NAB, SUN and WFD) and general industrial. However the short positions were the largest detractors in such a strong market, which proved expensive as a means of heding portfolio risk. The Fund gross exposure was 121.1% and net exposure 2.1%. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's commentary on the Fund and market outlook. |
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18 Aug 2015 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
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| Fund Overview | The Fund's discretionary investment strategy commences with a macro view of the economy and direction to establish the portfolio's desired market exposure. Following this detailed sector and company research is gathered from knowledge of the individual stocks in the Fund's universe, with widespread use of broker research. Company visits, presentations and discussions with management at CEO and CFO level are used wherever possible to assess management quality across a range of criteria. Detailed analysis of company valuations using financial statements and forecasts, particularly focusing on free cash flow, is conducted. Technical analysis is used to validate the Manager's fundamental research and valuations and to manage market timing. A significant portion of the Fund's overall performance can be attributed to the attention and importance given to the macro economic outlook and the ability and willingness to adjust the Fund's market risk. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's net equity market exposure (including derivatives) of the Fund was progressively increased post the Greek resolution and Chinese support measures to 55.7% (87.1% long and 31.4% short). Westpac, Ramsay Health Care, CSL and Aristocrat were the largest positive contributors, whilst Share Price Futures (hedging long exposures), Costa, Isentia and BHP Billiton were the largest detractors. Click below to read the June 2015 Fund Report. |
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17 Aug 2015 - Fund Review: Monash Absolute Investment Fund July 2015
MONASH ABSOLUTE INVESTMENT FUND
- The Fund is a research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies.
- The Fund seeks to identify opportunities in the share market to make positive returns (long and short) irrespective of market conditions. It is style agnostic, as compelling investment opportunities exist across all investment styles from time to time. The Fund places a high priority on capital preservation, and has an absolute return focus in accepting market risk.
Monash Absolute Investment AFM Fund Report July 2015 (pdf format)
17 Aug 2015 - Allard Investment Fund
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| Manager Comments | For the month of July, the Fund's portfolio was invested 77.7% in equities and 22.3% in cash and fixed income. The Fund continues to have most exposed to the Financial Services industry at 18.2%, Conglomerates at 10.7% and Telco's at 10.1%. The portfolio's geographic exposure was in Hong Kong / China at 43.2%, Singapore 10.7% and Korea 9.4%. The top 5 holdings had 39.7% concentration of the portfolio and 17.5% in the next 5 holdings. Click below to review the latest Fund Manager's Report. |
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15 Aug 2015 - Hedge Clippings
Known knowns, and surprising surprises
Maybe it was just the team at Hedge Clippings that weren't expecting it, but we should know that surprises that are unexpected are more damaging than those that are. I'm sure there's a lack of logic in there somewhere because surprises that are expected can't be a surprise, as am sure some of our readers will pick up on.
What we are getting at is this: Greece wasn't really a surprise as many investors were fully aware of the problems for four or five years. So when the potential of Grexit finally came to the crunch, although there were some market wobbles, most investors had come to terms with reality.
Ditto, we expect, with interest rate rises in the US. Although we have yet to see an actual rise to occur, it would be difficult for any investor to say they weren't aware of what is going to happen, even if that doesn't mean to say there won't be a significant market reaction when the inevitable happens.
The China situation is a little different. Firstly there had been differing views on the Chinese economy, with some participants following the line that the Chinese economy would stay "stronger for longer", whilst others were talking about the inevitability of a slowdown. Secondly, until very recently Chinese economic data wasn't as transparent as many would have liked, so no one really knew.
What shouldn't take investors by surprise is the determination of the Chinese authorities to retain tight controls, be they on the economy, markets, the currency, or if it comes that any other aspect of life in China. Their attempts to control the markets by limiting investors' ability to sell stocks for example, were ham fisted at best, but did show they meant business, and in the short-term at least appear to have been reasonably successful.
What did take investors by surprise was their devaluation of the Yuan this week, not once, not twice, but three days in a row, and counting. And what markets hate most is either an absence of information, or being surprised by it when it occurs.
Specific results received this week include the following PERFORMANCE UPDATES:
FUND REVIEWS released this week: Supervised High Yield Fund
20 - 21 August 2015 - The 2nd Superannuation Fund Investment Operations Forum 2015 is a two day forum providing invaluable technological, regulatory compliant and best practice insights into improving back and middle office efficiency to drive member loyalty, bottom line profitability and a competitive edge
26 - 28 August 2015 - The 15th Annual Wraps, Platforms & Masterfunds Conference will provide solutions for succeeding in a distribution world of endless possibilities, showcasing strategies to help business achieve the biggest bite of market share, use innovation to overcome problems and support opportunities. Australian Fund Monitors is pleased to offer a discount of $300 to all investors and advisors using coupon code promoFM on registration.
17 September 2015 - The 14th Annual Hedge Fund Rock and Australian Hedge Fund Awards 2015 as the industry lets its hair down with some drinks, music and great videos. All proceeds go to Redkite helping childern with cancer and their families.
A couple of suggestions for And Now for Something Completely Different recieved this week were "interesting" to say the least, but probably would not have been appreciated by all our subscribers. Thank you anyway - I tried the cider, but am still looking for the watch.
As much as we don't like to replay old clips, this one is special, partly as it was the first one we ever used, and partly because it is still such great value. Enjoy!
On that note, have a good week-end.
Regards,
Chris
CEO, AUSTRALIAN FUND MONITORS
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14 Aug 2015 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
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| Manager Comments | The biggest contribution to performance was from the US Banking position in Bank of Internet. The other large gain came from the Japan drugstore. The strengths of the Fund's risk management process was evident in July as China was again the largest detractors. However the stop-losses triggered by the falling market meant the Fund suffered much less pain there than it might have. The recovery in Europe saw the Fund lose money on their hedges. The Fund had over 52% of their equity exposure in North American and over 28% in the Financial Sector. Click below to read the Fund Manager's monthly report and their August outlook of the market. |
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13 Aug 2015 - The Paragon Fund
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| Fund Overview | Paragon believes that markets are not always efficient, exhibiting a common tendency to price securities well outside of their intrinsic value over the medium term. This market characteristic provides the opportunity for Paragon, an active manager with a flexible mandate, to generate superior investment returns over the longer term. Paragon believes that it is critical to understand both the companies and the industries in which they operate, in order to fully comprehend each investment opportunity. Accordingly, a fundamental approach to company research is taken. Assessing the potential downside is also paramount in framing the risk/reward trade-off for potential investments. |
| Manager Comments | Key positive contributors for July included Yowie Group, Henderson Group, Orora, Mayne Pharma and Senetas. The portfolio had the most net exposure in Industrials at 52.7%, followed by Financials at 21.90%. At the end of the month the Fund had 30 long positions and 15 short positions. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's commentary. |
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