Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust September 2017

9 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

Read the latest Fund Review on Optimal Australia Absolute Trust.

Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund September 2017

6 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

Latest Fund Review for the Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund is now available.

Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund

5 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Paragon Australian Long Short Fund rose +7.0% in September, taking annualised performance since inception in February 2013 to +14.4%.

5 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	05 October 2017
Manager	Paragon Funds Management
Fund Name	Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
Strategy	Equity Long/Short
Latest Return Date	September 2017
Latest Return	7.00%
Latest 6 Months	12.80%
Latest 12 Months	-8.87%
Latest 24 Months	21.61%
Annualised Since Inception	14.37%
Inception Date	28 February 2013
FUM (millions)	AU$67.4
Fund Overview	The Paragon Fund is a concentrated long/short Australian listed equities product that is fundamentally driven with a focus on the industrial and resource sectors. 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	The Paragon Australian Long Short Fund rose +7.0% in September. Since inception in February 2013, the Fund has outperformed the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +7.4% per annum. Performance for September was driven by several positions from the Fund's Electric Vehicle thematic, New Century Zinc and Lend Lease, and short positions in Newcrest, Telstra, Select Harvest and Perpetual. At the end of the month the Fund had 36 long and 14 short positions. Paragon noted that the Fund's Electric Vehicle (EV) thematic has been its best contributor to date and, in their view, is a theme with significant growth potential. The latest report details global sentiment surrounding the transition from internal combustion engines to EV and, consequently, several automobile companies' significant investments in Lithium and Cobalt. While Paragon expects Lithium and Cobalt to perform strongly going forward, they have also forecast bull markets in Copper, Graphite/Graphene and Nickel. Paragon believes the Fund is well positioned in these sectors.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund

5 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund rose +2.66% in August. Since Inception in January 2009, the Fund has returned +13.43% per annum, outperforming its benchmark (ASX300 Accumulation Index) by +2.90% per annum.

5 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	05 October 2017
Manager	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP), a Bennelong boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Australian Equities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	August 2017
Latest Return	2.66%
Latest 6 Months	7.77%
Latest 12 Months	8.43%
Latest 24 Months	25.98%
Annualised Since Inception	13.43%
Inception Date	30 January 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$318.92
Fund Overview	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP) is a boutique asset manager offering Australian equities solutions for institutional and retail clients. The business was founded in 2008 by Paul Cuddy and Mark East, in partnership with Bennelong Funds Management. Prior to establishing BAEP, Paul and Mark were Co-Heads of Australian Equities at ING Investment Management. The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund seeks quality investment opportunities which are under-appreciated and have the potential to deliver positive earnings. The investment process combines bottom-up fundamental analysis with proprietary investment tools that are used to build and maintain high quality portfolios that are risk aware. The investment team manages an extensive company/industry contact program which helps identify and verify various investment opportunities. The companies within the portfolio are primarily selected from, but not limited to, the S&P/ASX 300 Index. The Fund may invest in securities listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to the ASX-listed securities. The Fund typically holds between 25-60 stocks with a maximum net targeted position of an individual stock of 6%.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund rose +2.66% in August. Since Inception in January 2009, the Fund has increased by +13.43% per annum, an outperformance of the ASX200 Accumulation Index of +3.21%. The Fund's Sharpe and Sortino ratios of 0.80 and 1.20 respectively, comparatively better than the Index's Sharpe ratio of 0.64 and Sortino ratio of 0.89. Between the end of July and the end of August, the Fund has increased its weightings in the Industrials, REIT's, Consumer Staples and Materials sectors whilst decreasing its weightings in the Discretionary, Health Care, Utilities and Financials sectors.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund

4 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Quay Global Real Estate Fund rose +0.9% in August, taking performance since inception to +14.3% per annum.

4 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	04 October 2017
Manager	Quay Global Investors
Fund Name	Quay Global Real Estate Fund
Strategy	Real Estate
Latest Return Date	August 2017
Latest Return	0.90%
Latest 6 Months	3.17%
Latest 12 Months	-0.46%
Latest 24 Months	11.91%
Annualised Since Inception	13.88%
Inception Date	31 July 2014
FUM (millions)	AU$20.4
Fund Overview	Quay is a boutique investment management business established in 2013 with a focus on preserving and creating wealth for investors through investments in real estate securities. Quay uses a dual manager approach to the investment and portfolio management decision making process. This involves both Principals collaborating to determine significant portfolio investments and positions. The Fund will invest in a number of global listed real estate companies, groups or funds. The investment strategy is to make investments in real estate securities at a price that will deliver a real, after inflation, total return of 5% per annum (before costs and fees), inclusive of distributions over a longer-term period. The Investment Strategy is indifferent to the constraints of any index benchmarks and is relatively concentrated in its number of investments. The Fund is expected to own between 20 and 40 securities, and from time to time up to 20% of the portfolio maybe invested in cash. The Fund is $A un-hedged.
Manager Comments	The Quay Global Real Estate Fund increased +0.9% in August with approximately +1.0% derived from underlying investment performance, the impact of currency was relatively insignificant. The Fund has outperformed its benchmark (FTSE/EPRA NAREIT Developed Index Net TR AUD) since inception by +4.9%. The biggest contributors for the month were Store Capital (US) and CyrusOne (US), while Scentre Group (Aus) and Safestore (UK) detracted from performance. Geographically, Hong Kong and Germany were the best performers while Japan and the US lagged. The portfolio remained broadly unchanged during the month. The Manager noted that the local currency has acted as a significant headwind for AUD reported returns over the past two years. On a constant currency basis, total annualised returns for the Fund have been +9.8%, with currency deducting almost 4% per annum. The Manager believes that, over time, currency has a diminished impact on total returns due to their 'mean-reverting' nature.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Insync Global Titans Fund

4 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Insync Global Titans Fund ended August up +1.02% after fees and protection, taking annualised performance since inception to +9.42%.

4 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Insync Global Titans Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	04 October 2017
Manager	Insync Fund Managers
Fund Name	Insync Global Titans Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	August 2017
Latest Return	1.02%
Latest 6 Months	9.86%
Latest 12 Months	8.35%
Latest 24 Months	6.08%
Annualised Since Inception	9.43%
Inception Date	07 October 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$31
Fund Overview	Insync's investment strategy is driven by fundamentals combined with active risk management. Insync's aim is to invest in high quality, large cap global companies at attractive prices. Insync looks for companies that can consistently pay rising dividends and earn high returns on invested capital. Insync aims to provide investors with long term capital growth and some income. The Global Titans Fund is a concentrated portfolio of large cap global companies with downside protection. 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 of typically 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. At times, Insync may consider holding higher levels of cash if valuations are full and it is difficult to find attractive investment opportunities. When Insync believes markets to be overvalued, it may hold part of its resources in cash, or use derivatives as a way of reducing its equity exposure. Insync may use options, futures and other derivatives to reduce risk or gain exposure to underlying physical investments. The Fund may purchase put options on market indices or specific stocks to hedge against losses caused by declines in the prices of stocks in its portfolio.
Manager Comments	The Insync Global Titans Fund ended August up +1.02% after fees and protection, taking annualised performance since inception to +9.42%. Positive performers include PayPal, Visa, Microsoft, Diageo and Unilever. The main negative contributors were Stryker Corp, Reckitt Benckiser, Medtronic, Walt Disney Co and Priceline.com Inc. The Fund's only outright sell during the month was Nestle based on valuation, the Fund has held the stock since inception. New buys during the month include Stryker and Accenture, Insync believes both are well positioned to benefit from growth in their respective sectors. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside. Over 50% of the Fund is currently protected using Insync's put protection strategy.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund August 2017

3 Oct 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

Latest Fund Review on Insync Global Titans Fund is now available.

Performance Report: Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund

29 Sep 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund increased 2.99% in August, outperforming the ASX300 Accumulation Index by +2.24%.

29 Sep 2017 - Performance Report: Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	29 September 2017
Manager	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP), a Bennelong boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	August 2017
Latest Return	2.99%
Latest 6 Months	8.76%
Latest 12 Months	10.07%
Latest 24 Months	41.01%
Annualised Since Inception	17.52%
Inception Date	30 January 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$202.78
Fund Overview	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP) is a boutique asset manager offering Australian equities solutions for institutional and retail clients. The business was founded in 2008 by Paul Cuddy and Mark East, in partnership with Bennelong Funds Management. Prior to establishing BAEP, Paul and Mark were Co-Heads of Australian Equities at ING Investment Management. The overriding objective of the Concentrated Australian Equities Fund is to seek investment opportunities which are under-appreciated and have the potential to deliver positive earnings, while satisfying our stringent quality criteria. 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. The portfolio typically consists of 20-35 high-conviction stocks from the S&P/ASX 300 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 and company specific risks.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund increased 2.99% in August, outperforming the ASX300 Accumulation Index by +2.24%. Since inception in January 2009, the Fund has achieved an annualised return of +17.51%, outperforming the Index by +6.98%. The Fund's up-capture and down-capture ratios since inception are 133.31% and 86.06% respectively, highlighting the Fund's ability to outperform in both rising and falling markets. The latest report shows that the portfolio's weightings have increased in the Consumer Staples, Industrials and Materials sectors, and decreased in the Discretionary, Health Care and Financials sectors. The portfolio held 21 stocks at the end of August, up from 19 at the end of July.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund

29 Sep 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Touchstone Index Unaware Fund rose +0.11% in August, taking performance over the past 12 months to +9.72%.

29 Sep 2017 - Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	29 September 2017
Manager	Touchstone Asset Management, A Bennelong Boutique
Fund Name	Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	August 2017
Latest Return	0.11%
Latest 6 Months	1.77%
Latest 12 Months	9.70%
Latest 24 Months
Annualised Since Inception	12.53%
Inception Date	04 April 2016
FUM (millions)	AU$4.2
Fund Overview	The Fund aims to deliver capital growth and a sustainable income stream to its investors by investing in a portfolio of primarily listed Australian shares and cash, aiming to provide a total return that exceeds the return of the S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index by 2% p.a. (before fees and expenses) over a rolling 5 year period. 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	The Touchstone Index Unaware Fund rose +0.11% in August, with performance adversely impacted by a pullback in a number of key positions. Over the past 12 months, the Fund has achieved an annualised performance of +9.72%. Positive performers included Treasury Wine (+20%) and Wesfarmers (+7.7%), while the Fund also benefited from not holding CBA (-6.9%). Negative performers included insurance companies QBE (-10.1%) and IAG (-3.9%). Given QBE is now trading at a discount of more than 20% to global peers, drivers for an earnings uplift are in place and the company has now initiated a $1bn buyback. Touchstone believe the rising AUD will be a headwind for companies with USD earnings. They also anticipate that commodity prices will decline, tempering their profit outlook for the resources and materials sector. Against this backdrop, their view is that valuations remain high and vulnerable to pullback. Given this, Touchstone's thesis remains unchanged that given the heightened uncertainty, the market remains vulnerable to an external shock, and as such they remain cautious.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund

29 Sep 2017 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Glenmore Australian Equities Fund rose +7.03% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +6.32%.

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News

9 Oct 2017 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust September 2017

OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE TRUST

6 Oct 2017 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund September 2017

5 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund

5 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund

4 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund

4 Oct 2017 - Performance Report: Insync Global Titans Fund

3 Oct 2017 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund August 2017

29 Sep 2017 - Performance Report: Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund

29 Sep 2017 - Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund

29 Sep 2017 - Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund

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