Performance Report: Fortitude Capital Absolute Return Trust

14 Sep 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

Fortitude benefits from gains in M&A, Derivatives and Yield portfolios to report theirbest monthly performance in 12 months.

Performance Report: Bennelong Securities Long Short Equity Fund

12 Sep 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

Bennelong reported a loss in August of -0.96% against the ASX200 which fell -1.99% as the market was dominated by earnings releases of mixed quality.

Performance Report: Regal Tasman Market Neutral Fund

7 Sep 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Tasman Market Neutral Fund had another solid month in August finishing up 4.41%. Asia was the highlight (in terms of return on investment), Australia also performed very well.

7 Sep 2010 - Performance Report: Regal Tasman Market Neutral Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	07 September 2010
Manager	Regal Funds Management
Fund Name	Regal Tasman Market Neutral Fund
Strategy	Equity Market Neutral
Latest Return Date	August 2010
Latest Return	4.41%
Latest 6 Months	12.38%
Latest 12 Months	36.41%
Latest 24 Months	43.97%
Annualised Since Inception	22.92%
Inception Date	03 May 2007
FUM (millions)	AU$30
Fund Overview	The Tasman Market Neutral Fund aims to maximise returns with only moderate risk and little correlation to equity markets. Investments are usually based on fundamental research and may be held for months or years. Hedging is usually achieved through single stock exposures. The fund aims to limit the volatility of returns to less than 15% pa and maintains a beta neutral portfolio. Risk limits (stock, sector, liquidity, systematic etc) are maintained to help achieve the volatility target. Most of the investments are in Australia but investments are also made in other countries on an opportunistic basis (mainly in Europe and no emerging markets).
Manager Comments	Asia was the highlight (in terms of return on investment), with the best performing stock being ICBC (Asia), which finished up 25% after a takeover proposal by its 71% parent ICBC. This was the event we had been waiting a long time for and as a result the position was sold. Shorts in Asia also made a small profit. Australia also performed very well. Unusually, despite the 2% fall in the Australian market, the longs made money and the shorts lost a little. Some shorts were profitable. For example, Blue Scope Steel fell 10% as the company's refusal to provide guidance resulted in forecast earnings being reduced to more reasonable levels. However a number of shorts lost money. These were largely companies that didn't disappoint the market as much as we expected with their earnings results or, in the case of Woolworths, unexpectedly announced a large off-market share buyback.
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Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

6 Sep 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

Optimal Australia's equity long short fund recorded a net return of +0.36% against a backdrop of the ASX200 which lost 1.99% for the month, and the S&P500 experiencing its worst August result in nine years. The fund has now achieved a...

6 Sep 2010 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	06 September 2010
Manager	Optimal Fund Management
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	August 2010
Latest Return	0.36%
Latest 6 Months	6.13%
Latest 12 Months	12.89%
Latest 24 Months	38.92%
Annualised Since Inception	17.87%
Inception Date	15 September 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$47
Fund Overview	The investment objective of the Fund is to seek to achieve above average returns in absolute terms, through investing in listed securities in Australia and New Zealand, subject to the overarching requirement of capital preservation. Investments will predominantly be in equity securities but may include fixed interest instruments, money market instruments, derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. 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	Optimal noted that making money as a long short investor during August's reporting season was always difficult, and that this year was no exception. Although the market had been conditioned to expect earnings slippage, consensus estimates for FY2011 still fell by 5% during July and August, with upgrades few and far between, exceptions being Virgin Blue, Qantas, Ansell and Challenger. Meanwhile downgrades included the banks (5-7%), around 15% for Telstra and over 20% for James Hardie and Boral. As such the manager's homework going into reporting season allowed them to protect capital in a difficult market.
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Performance Report: Herschel Absolute Return Fund

18 Aug 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

Herschel performance was flat in July, dragged down by a large short position in Centennial Coal, which received a bid from Thai company Banpu.

Performance Report: Pengana Emerging Companies Fund

13 Aug 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Pengana Emerging Companies Fund's July result of +4.2% may have been 1.1% less than its Small Ordinaries Index benchmark, but over the last 12 months the fund has returned +31.9%, 24.6% more than the Index.

Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

10 Aug 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

Optimal says that their Australia Absolute Trust 'caught more than our fair (exposure-adjusted) share of the rally', finishing the month +2.03% even though the fund retained low headline equity market exposure during the month.

10 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	09 August 2010
Manager	Optimal Fund Management
Fund Name	Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	July 2010
Latest Return	2.34%
Latest 6 Months	6.29%
Latest 12 Months	16.96%
Latest 24 Months
Annualised Since Inception	18.57%
Inception Date	15 September 2008
FUM (millions)	AU$44
Fund Overview	The investment objective of the Fund is to seek to achieve above average returns in absolute terms, through investing in listed securities in Australia and New Zealand, subject to the overarching requirement of capital preservation. Investments will predominantly be in equity securities but may include fixed interest instruments, money market instruments, derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. 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	Optimal says that their Australia Absolute Trust 'caught more than our fair (exposure-adjusted) share of the rally', finishing the month +2.03% even though the fund retained low headline equity market exposure during the month. Long positions that performed well included infrastructure, resources, soft comms, banks, and steels, while energy and telecomms were detractors. Positives on the short side were building materials and REIT's, while negatives included retail, consumer, and index futures.
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Performance Report: Argus Dynamic Multi-strategy Program

9 Aug 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

Relative Value was the only one of Argus\\'s four strategies not to make money in July. The fund finished the month up +1.55% with a large contribution coming from a long position in many wheat varieties as dry and hot weather in Russia...

Performance Report: K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund

5 Aug 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

The best performing fund for K2 in July was their Asian Absolute Return Fund with an increase of +4.36%. Markets in the region were led higher by China (+12.5), Taiwan (+8.4%), Thailand (+7.4%) and Indonesia (+6.0%).

5 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	05 August 2010
Manager	K2 Asset Management
Fund Name	K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	July 2010
Latest Return	4.36%
Latest 6 Months	-0.77%
Latest 12 Months	0.46%
Latest 24 Months	11.56%
Annualised Since Inception	12.46%
Inception Date	01 September 1999
FUM (millions)	AU$163
Fund Overview	The investment team does not use a single approach to stock picking, rather, each investment manager brings their own investment style and methodology to the portfolio. Key variables of earnings, valuation and management are examined to determine whether securities are over or undervalued. The investment team's ability to pick major investment themes, or 'catalysts', in a timely manner is a key competitive advantage. The stock selection process is based on the investment manager's own primary research, direct contact with companies and subscriptions to independent research houses. The Fund actively manages currency exposure with the aim of using hedging to reduce the risk of currency movement and protect stock returns. The level of hedging will depend on K2's expectation of future currency exchange rate movements.
Manager Comments	The best performing fund for K2 in July was their Asian Absolute Return Fund with an increase of +4.36%. Markets in the region were led higher by China (+12.5), Taiwan (+8.4%), Thailand (+7.4%) and Indonesia (+6.0%). While markets remain volatile, the manager believes that fears of a double-dip recesion are receding. Signs that conditions are improving in China have helped markets in the region to perform better after an extended period of underperformance. August is often a poor month for Asian equities, in part due to the summer break, however K2 believes that there is a high level of cash being held by investors and there are signs from fund flows to suggest that allocations to Asian equities are increasing.
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Some balance in the fee debate please!

30 Jul 2010 - Australian Fund Monitors

We can’t help feeling that amongst the great fee debate sparked by the Cooper Review, some people are missing if not “the” point, at least one important factor: PERFORMANCE.

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14 Sep 2010 - Performance Report: Fortitude Capital Absolute Return Trust

12 Sep 2010 - Performance Report: Bennelong Securities Long Short Equity Fund

7 Sep 2010 - Performance Report: Regal Tasman Market Neutral Fund

6 Sep 2010 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

18 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: Herschel Absolute Return Fund

13 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: Pengana Emerging Companies Fund

10 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

9 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: Argus Dynamic Multi-strategy Program

5 Aug 2010 - Performance Report: K2 Asian Absolute Return Fund

30 Jul 2010 - Some balance in the fee debate please!

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