News
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund June 2019
18 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The latest Fund Review for the Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund is now available. The Fund is a long-biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy which invests in listed ASX companies with track records greater than 10 years.
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18 Jul 2019 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund June 2019
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - June 2019 (pdf format)
BENNELONG KARDINIA ABSOLUTE RETURN FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review. You are also able to view the Fund's Profile.
- The Fund is long biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies with over ten-year track record.
- The Fund has significantly outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index since its inception in May 2006 and also has significantly lower risk KPIs. The Fund has an annualised return of 9.29% p.a. with a volatility of 7.06%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 6.34% p.a. with a volatility of 13.22%.
- The Fund also has a strong focus on capital protection in negative markets. Portfolio Managers Mark Burgess and Kristiaan Rehder have significant market experience, while Bennelong Funds Management provide infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution capabilities.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - June 2019 (pdf format)
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund June 2019
17 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review for the Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund is now available. The Fund is a research driven, market and sector neutral, "pairs" trading strategy investing primarily in large-caps from the ASX/S&P100 Index...
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17 Jul 2019 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund June 2019
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - June 2019 (pdf format)
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-caps from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with over 16-years' track record and an annualised returns of 14.81%.
- The consistent returns across the investment history highlight 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 0.89 and 1.43 respectively.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - June 2019 (pdf format)
Performance Report: Cyan C3G Fund
16 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Cyan C3G Fund rose +1.1% in June, taking annualised performance since inception in August 2014 to +19.13% versus the Index's +8.06%.
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16 Jul 2019 - Performance Report: Cyan C3G Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Cyan C3G Fund is based on the investment philosophy which can be defined as a comprehensive, clear and considered process focused on delivering growth. These are identified through stringent filter criteria and a rigorous research process. The Manager uses a proprietary stock filter in order to eliminate a large proportion of investments due to both internal characteristics (such as gearing levels or cash flow) and external characteristics (such as exposure to commodity prices or customer concentration). Typically, the Fund looks for businesses that are one or more of: a) under researched, b) fundamentally undervalued, c) have a catalyst for re-rating. The Manager seeks to achieve this investment outcome by actively managing a portfolio of Australian listed securities. When the opportunity to invest in suitable securities cannot be found, the manager may reduce the level of equities exposure and accumulate a defensive cash position. Whilst it is the company's intention, there is no guarantee that any distributions or returns will be declared, or that if declared, the amount of any returns will remain constant or increase over time. The Fund does not invest in derivatives and does not use debt to leverage the Fund's performance. However, companies in which the Fund invests may be leveraged. |
| Manager Comments | Cyan noted there were a couple of wins this month that helped drive the Fund higher. Their IPO investment in co-working space provider Victory Offices listed at a 10% premium; Cyan have since added to their initial position. The Fund's best performer in June was Kelly Partners (+25%). The other win they had this month was the revaluation of some escrowed Atomos shares Cyan purchased back in March at 60c. Atomos closed at $1.03 but has traded higher again in July having raised $7.5m in new capital and completed a sell-down. Cyan reiterate in this month's report that, whilst month-to-month volatility can be expected, they have a firm view of long-term opportunity and remain confident in the outlook for the Fund into the future. |
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Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund
15 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Glenmore Australian Equities Fund rose +5.21% in June, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +1.51% and taking annualised performance since inception in June 2017 to +30.29% versus the Index's +11.85%.
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15 Jul 2019 - Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The main driver of identifying potential investments will be bottom up company analysis, however macro-economic conditions will be considered as part of the investment thesis for each stock. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's Sharpe and Sortino ratios, 1.98 and 3.59 respectively, by contrast with the Index's Sharpe of 1.15 and Sortino of 1.80, highlight the Fund's capacity to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns whilst avoiding the market's downside volatility. Top contributors in June included Polynovo, People Infrastructure, Magellan Financial Group, Phoslock, Auckland International Airport and Jumbo Interactive. Detractors included Pinnacle Investment, Bravura Solutions and NRW Holdings. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
12 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose +2.82%, taking annualised performance since inception in May 2006 to +9.29% versus the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +6.34%.
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12 Jul 2019 - Performance Report: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 June return was driven by gold, financials, bond proxies and healthcare stocks. Top contributors included Polynovo, Northern Star, Evolution, Goodman Group, Atlas Arteria and Rhipe. Key detractors included Adairs, A2 Milk, Dubber and Netwealth. The largest detractor was a short position in Share Price Index Futures (-45bp contribution), partly offset by a modest positive contribution from the individual stock short book. Net equity market exposure was increased from 13.5% to 24.9% (67.3% long and 42.4% short), with the key changes being new long positions in National Australia Bank and Telstra as well as increased weightings in Commonwealth Bank, Atlas Arteria, Chorus, APA Group, Northern Star and Rio Tinto. This was partly offset by the sale of Tabcorp, Flight Centre, Netwealth and Adairs, four new individual stock shorts and an increase in the Fund's short position in Share Price Index Futures. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
8 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund rose +3.00% in June, taking annualised performance since inception in February 2002 to +14.81% versus the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +8.41%.
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8 Jul 2019 - Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | In a typical environment the Fund will hold around 70 stocks comprising 35 pairs. Each pair contains one long and one short position each of which will have been thoroughly researched and are selected from the same market sector. Whilst in an ideal environment each stock's position will make a positive return, it is the relative performance of the pair that is important. As a result the Fund can make positive returns when each stock moves in the same direction provided the long position outperforms the short one in relative terms. However, if neither side of the trade is profitable, strict controls are required to ensure losses are limited. The Fund uses no derivatives and has no currency exposure. The Fund has no hard stop loss limits, instead relying on the small average position size per stock (1.5%) and per pair (3%) to limit exposure. Where practical pairs are always held within the same sector to limit cross sector risk, and positions can be held for months or years. The Bennelong Market Neutral Fund, with same strategy and liquidity is available for retail investors as a Listed Investment Company (LIC) on the ASX. |
| Manager Comments | Bennelong say net improved fundamental news flows across the portfolio in May was a contributing factor to June's performance. At the sector level, Consumer Discretionary was the strongest, followed by Industrials, whilst Information Technology and Energy were the weakest. The number of positive pairs exceeded the number of negative pairs in June. Long Woolworths / short Metcash was the strongest pair after Metcash announced its full-year results which disappointed due to further weakness in its wholesale grocery business. Long Magellan / short Perpetual was also a solid contributor following consensus earnings upgrades to Magellan after strong fund performance. The weakest pair was long Link Administration / short Computershare following Link downgrading earnings. Long Challenger / short IOOF / short AMP was also a negative contributor following Challenger lowering its earnings outlook. |
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Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
5 Jul 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Australian Long Short Fund rose +0.9% after fees in June, taking annualised performance since inception in February 2013 to +9.45% versus the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +8.85%.
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5 Jul 2019 - Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Paragon's unique investment style, comprising thematic led idea generation followed with an in depth research effort, results in a concentrated portfolio of high conviction stocks. Conviction in bottom up analysis drives the investment case and ultimate position sizing: * Both quantitative analysis - probability weighted high/low/base case valuations - and qualitative analysis - company meetings, assessing management, the business model, balance sheet strength and likely direction of returns - collectively form Paragon's overall view for each investment case. * Paragon will then allocate weighting to each investment opportunity based on a risk/reward profile, capped to defined investment parameters by market cap, which are continually monitored as part of Paragon's overall risk management framework. The objective of the Paragon Fund is to produce absolute returns in excess of 10% p.a. over a 3-5 year time horizon with a low correlation to the Australian equities market. |
| Manager Comments | Positive contributors included Alacer Gold, Nearmap and Jumbo. These were offset by declines in Atrum and PowerApp. Paragon noted, as of 2 July, Sandfire had increased its interest in Adriatic to 11%. They expect Sandfire to pursue the rest of Adriatic at a premium in time. In June, Gold broke out above a long-term (6-yr) base of US$1,350/oz, with A$ gold continuing to break all-time highs. Paragon discuss their view on gold and A$ gold equities in their latest report. They consider gold a strong hedge to global market volatility and expect volatility to be an ongoing feature in global markets due to macro risk factors, slowing global growth and fears of a US recession. |
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Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity Fund
28 Jun 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Insync Global Quality Equity Fund returned -2.25% in May, outperforming AFM's Global Equity Index by +2.21% and taking annualised performance since inception to +12.87% versus the Index's +10.79%.
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28 Jun 2019 - Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Insync employs four simple screens to narrow the universe of over 40,000 listed companies globally to a focus group of high-quality companies that it believes have the potential to consistently grow their profits and dividends. These screens are: size of the company, balance sheet performance, valuation and dividend quality. Companies that pass this due diligence process are then valued using dividend discount models, free cash flow yield and proprietary implied growth and expected return models. The end result is a high conviction portfolio typically of 15-30 stocks. The principal investments will be in shares of companies listed on international stock exchanges (including the US, Europe and Asia). The Fund may also hold cash, derivatives (for example futures, options and swaps), currency contracts, American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts. The Fund may also invest in various types of international pooled investment vehicles. |
| Manager Comments | Insync attribute the Fund's outperformance in May to strong stock selection. Positive highlights include Adidas, IDEXX Laboratories, Wirecard, Boston Scientific Corp and the London Stock Exchange. Detractors included Facebook, Apple, Booking Holdings, Constellation Brands and Tencent Holdings. The Fund continues to have no currency hedging as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside. Insync's view is that current market conditions continue to reflect the trend in place since the GFC of low growth and low inflation. They believe if this trend continues then investing in a portfolio of high ROIC stocks benefitting from global megatrends should be beneficial. They noted their portfolio of companies is less dependent on the global economy to generate consistent profitable growth. |
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Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
27 Jun 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Touchstone Index Unaware Fund rose +0.25% in May, taking annualised performance since inception in April 2016 to +11.01% with an annualised volatility of 9.99%.
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27 Jun 2019 - Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The portfolio is constructed using Touchstone's Quality-At-a-Reasonable-Price ('QARP') investment process. QARP is a fundamental bottom-up process, however, it also incorporates a top-down risk management framework designed to successfully manage the portfolio during varying market conditions and economic cycles. The Touchstone Fund is concentrated, typically holding between 15-20 stocks. No individual stock will ever make up more than 10% of the portfolio at any one time. The Investment Manager may temporarily exceed the exposure limits of the Fund occasionally, particularly during periods of market volatility, to allow for holdings in excess of this 10% limit where the increase in value of the underlying security is due to market movement. The Fund may also hold between 0-50% of the portfolio in cash. The Fund has a high level of associated risk, therefore, the minimum suggested investment time-frame is 5 years. |
| Manager Comments | As at the end of May, the Fund held 21 stocks with a median position size of 4.8%. The portfolio's holdings had an average forward year price/earnings of 15.8, forward year EPS growth of 6.8%, forward year tangible ROE of 24.2% and forward year dividend yield of 4.5%. The Fund's cash weighting was increased to 3.4% from 3.0% as at the end of April. The Fund primarily seeks to select stocks from the ASX300 Index, typically holding between 10-30 stocks. The Fund seeks to invest in reasonably priced, good quality companies with a significant share of expected returns coming from sustainable dividends. |
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Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund
27 Jun 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors
The NWQ Fiduciary Fund has risen +5.13% since inception in May 2013 with an annualised volatility of 4.85%. By contrast, the ASX200 Accumulation Index has risen +8.19% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 10.93% over the same period.
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27 Jun 2019 - Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce returns, after management fees and expenses of between 8% to 11% p.a. over rolling five-year periods. Furthermore, the Fund aims to achieve these returns with volatility that is a fraction of the Australian equity market, in order to smooth returns for investors. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund returned -0.72% in May. NWQ noted the continuation of the 'melt up' in Australian equities was a tailwind for the Fund's Beta managers and presented challenges for its Alpha managers. NWQ maintain their conviction in their Alpha managers for their ability to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns and provide their investors diversification when equity markets are challenged. |
| More Information |
