News
Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
11 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose 2.95% for the month of July to take annualised return since inception to 11.92% p.a.
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11 Aug 2016 - 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 | Aristocrat Leisure, BWX, BlueScope Steel and Beadell Resources were the largest positive contributors to performance whilst Share Price Index Futures (hedging longs), Yowie and Syrah Resources were the largest detractors. Net equity market exposure (including derivatives) was increased to 55.6% (65.8% long and 10.2% short). Click below to read the latest Fund Report. |
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The Paragon Fund
11 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Fund returned a positive 2.90% after fees for the month of July, to take latest 12-months return to 35.12%.
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11 Aug 2016 - The Paragon Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 various gold holdings, as well as NetComm Wireless, Aconex and Smartgroup, offset by short positions in a rising market. The Fund's largest industry net exposure was in the Resources sector, at +59.9%. Cash balance was 7.4%. At the end of the month, the Fund had 31 long positions and 9 short positions. Click below to read the latest monthly report. |
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APN Asian REIT Fund
10 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
APN Asian REIT Fund rose 2.07% in July, outperforming the Bloomberg Asia REIT Index which returned 0.77%, by 1.30%.
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10 Aug 2016 - APN Asian REIT Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Pete Morrissey and Corrine Ng are the Portfolio Managers of the Fund. Morrissey has over 15 years financial markets experience and joined APN in 2006. Previously, he worked at Lonsec and also managed an internationally focused private investment fund as well as spending several years as an analyst in the UK for Nomura, amongst others. He has also completed Masters level academic research papers on both commercial real estate cycles and global property cycles. Ng also has a strong background in property and REITs in Australia, Asia and the North American markets. Prior to joining APN, Ng worked for Aviva Investors (Senior Investment Analyst, North America Real Estate Securities Team) and Goldman Sachs & Co (Vice President, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Real Estate Securities Team) in New York. The Fund aims to deliver a competitive yield with lower risk than the market. The underlying stocks are selected based on a highly disciplined investment approach that focuses on the fundamentals and number of valuation approaches. The universe is expected to be dynamic as new IPO's, other corporate actions take place and / or corporate governance improvements at country or REIT level bring new stocks into focus. The Fund focuses on passive rental earnings derived from well managed Asian REITs listed in mature capital markets and will not invest in infrastructure, property development companies or stocks with a 'loose association with property'. The Fund provides access to a wide spread of property-based revenue streams that are specifically analysed, selected and weighted with the aim of delivering strong and sustainable income returns. The Fund is an unhedged product. The Fund is suited to medium to long term investors seeking a relatively high income and some capital growth over the long term. The manager has offered a special 50% reduction in management fee for all existing and new investors who apply by 30 June 2016. |
| Manager Comments | For July, the portfolio's two largest geographic exposure were in Japan at 38.3%, and Singapore at 31.7%. The majority (66.6%) of the Fund was invested in the Retail REITs (40.1%) and the Office REITs (26.5%) sectors. The top five holdings comprised of over 20% of the portfolio with 2 holdings above 4% each. Click below to read the latest Fund's performance report. |
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Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund July 2016
10 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
July Fund Review now available on Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund which has annualised returns of 17.81% p.a.
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10 Aug 2016 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund July 2016
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - July 2016 (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 large-caps from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with over fourteen-year track record and annualised returns of 17.81%.
- The consistent returns across the investment history indicate 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 0.32) and 1.83 (Index 0.35) respectively.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - July 2016 (pdf format)
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
9 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned -2.3% in July to take annualised return since inception to 8.71% p.a.
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9 Aug 2016 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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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 small investment in lithium producer Orocobre was the big winner over the year. The insurance, builders, banks and media sectors positively contributed in July. However, the healthcare, staples, resources and index futures sectors detracted from the performance. The bias against interest-rate sensitive stocks proved expensive as a means of hedging portfolio risk. At month-end, the Fund had gross exposure of 94% and net short exposure of 22%. The Fund will continue to maintain a defensive focus. Click below to read the latest Fund monthly report. |
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Fund Review: Meme Australian Share Fund July 2016
8 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
July Fund Review is now available on Meme Australian Share Fund, that invests in ASX listed securities outside of the S&P/ASX20.
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8 Aug 2016 - Fund Review: Meme Australian Share Fund July 2016
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - July 2016 (pdf format)
Meme Australian Share Fund
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Meme Australian Share Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund;
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The Meme Capital Management is a Perth-based boutique Fund Manager, established in 2012 and manages the Meme Australian Share Fund.
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The Fund specializes in technical and quantitative strategies to identify investment opportunities expected to provide both positive price appreciation and relative price outperformance over the medium to long term.
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The Fund's objective is to outperform the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index over rolling three-year periods, through investing in ASX listed securities outside the S&P/ASX 20. The Fund only takes long positions and does not use derivatives.
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Since inception, the Fund has an annualised return of 22.23% p.a., versus the Index's return of 9.59% p.a.
AFM Fund Review - July 2016 (pdf format)
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
5 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned +1.46% in July and +15.63% for the latest 12-months.
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5 Aug 2016 - 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. |
| Manager Comments | Performance was mostly concentrated for the month, with the top pair (long Bluescope/ Short Sims Metal) as the standout contributor. The rest of the portfolio was evenly mixed with positive contributions from pair positions in the industrial and healthcare sectors offset by pairs in the financials and infrastructure / utilities sectors. The main portfolio change over the month involved exiting the position in Caltex. Click below to read the Fund Manager's commentary and market outlook. |
| More Information |
Meme Australian Share Fund
5 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Meme Australian Share Fund rose 7.18% for the month of July 2016.
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5 Aug 2016 - Meme Australian Share Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund's investment strategy seeks to identify low-risk entry opportunities and then build positions in these stocks. Once established in the portfolio, individual stock holdings are maintained for as long as their long-term upward trend remains intact and while they continue to make positive contributions to portfolio growth. Positions are reduced and ultimately closed out as their trends become exhausted or as their relative long-term performance against the broad market weakens. The Fund believes that longer time frame investments also provide a number of advantages. The effect of false signals and 'noise' which attend shorter term time frames is mitigated by only attending to signals which are confirmed by our longer term assessments. Also, the Fund gains exposure to the more expansive price trends which can last for months and years, allowing dividends and distributions received during this time to further enhance portfolio returns. |
| Manager Comments | The five most positive contributors to the fund's July performance were Millennium Mining, Resolute Mining, Dacian Gold, Infigen Energy and Cardinal Resources, while the five most negative contributors were Syrah Resources, Antipa Minerals, Orocobre Limited, Galaxy Resources and Redflow Limited. The Fund increased its holding in the Consumer Discretionary, Industrials, Material and Telecommunications sectors and reduced its exposure to the Property, Consumer Staples, Financials and Utilities sectors. At month end, the total number of portfolio stocks reduced to 87 holdings and portfolio cash at approximately 1%. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's commentary on the Fund. |
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Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund June 2016
3 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Insync Global Titans Fund is now available.
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3 Aug 2016 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund June 2016
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - June 2016 (pdf format)
INSYNC GLOBAL TITANS FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Insync Global Titans Fund.
We would like to highlight the following:
- The Fund's unit price decreased by 1.45% in June. The performance was driven by positive contributions from our holdings in Medtronic, Mead Johnson Nutrition, BAT, Nestle and Unilever. The main negative contributors were PayPal, Sanofi, Visa and Microsoft.
- The Global Titans Fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 15-30 stocks, targeting exceptional, large cap global companies with a strong focus on dividend growth and downside protection.
- Portfolio selection is driven by a core strategy of investing in companies with sustainable growth in dividends, high returns on capital, positive free cash flows and strong balance sheets.
- Emphasis on limiting downside risk is through extensive company research, the ability to hold cash and long protective index put options.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - June 2016 (pdf format)
Fund Review: Supervised Global Income Fund June 2016
2 Aug 2016 - Australian Fund Monitors
Fund review on Supervised Global Income Fund, a fixed income fund, is now available.
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2 Aug 2016 - Fund Review: Supervised Global Income Fund June 2016
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - June 2016 (pdf format)
SUPERVISED GLOBAL INCOME FUND
Attached is AFM's updated Fund Review on the Supervised Global Income Fund (SGIF).
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- The Supervised Global Income Fund (previously Supervised High Yield Fund) has a 6-year track record investing in fixed interest investments. The Investment strategy aims to deliver returns with zero correlation to equity markets by investing in debt securities with minimal default probability and offering a premium return above the risk-free rate.
- The Fund is managed by Philip Carden whose experience in debt and capital markets spans over 33 years, including time with JB Were's Capel Court Securities and Macquarie Bank, where he was the Executive Director responsible for the Debt Markets Division.
- SHYF is an Alternative Income fund which invests in Global and Australian debt markets, with all foreign currency receivables hedged back to Australian dollars.
- The Fund utilises a top-down analysis of the economic environment and market to screen and identifies debt market opportunities which it believes offer low risk with high yield. The next stage is the development of a risk matrix and investment strategy, following which detailed research is undertaken on specific investment opportunities which meet the pre-defined criteria established in the investment strategy.
- Prior to approving an investment for the Fund, each potential investment is subject to two stress tests. The first of these is of credit and default risk, in which the investment is stress-tested to ensure that in a worst case economic environment it can repay 100% of its principal and interest obligations case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided The second test examines market risk. In this case, Carden looks at the worst case scenario for the asset by examining the highest margin over the risk rate that the investment has previously experienced in a crisis situation. Any decline in value under the stress test that exceeds 10% of the Fund's value is avoided.
AFM Fund Review - June 2016 (pdf format)
