News
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
5 Mar 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust for January 2014 has been released. The fund is characterised by very low risk with an annualised standard deviation 3.57% (Index 15.06%)and a Sharpe Ratio since inception of 1.73.
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5 Mar 2014 - Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust (pdf format)
OPTIMAL AUSTRALIA ABSOLUTE TRUST
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Optimal Australia Absolute Trust.
We would like to highlight the following:
- Optimal Australia is a specialist Australian equity investment manager and the Fund has a long/short equity strategy typically with a low but variable net market exposure comprising 40 to 65 stocks broadly selected from within the ASX200.
- The Fund has recorded out-performance of the market since inception in September 2008 with approximately 83% of monthly performances having positive returns and the largest drawdown was -1.38% (Index -33.11%).
- The Fund has sound Sharpe and Sortino ratios at 1.73 and 5.05 since inception, as compared to the Index numbers of 0.13 and 0.08.
- The investment team comprising George Colman, Peter Whiting and Stephen Nicholls have close to 90 years combined experience in equity markets.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Optimal Australia Absolute Trust (pdf format)
Intelligent Investor Value Fund
4 Mar 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Intelligent Investor Value Fund managed the poor equity market of January with a return of 1.05% (Index -3.03%). For the year the Fund recorded a very strong 37.69% (Index 10.98%).
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4 Mar 2014 - Intelligent Investor Value Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Pengana Asia Special Events (Onshore) Fund
4 Mar 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana Asia Special Events (Onshore) Fund returned 2.00% for January, a very difficult month for Asian equity (FTSE Asia Pacific Index -4.60%), and 11.76% for the 12 months to end-January.
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4 Mar 2014 - Pengana Asia Special Events (Onshore) Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund seeks to profit from trading securities which are primarily subject to corporate events or from trading-related securities which the Investment Manager believes are mispriced by the market. The Fund invests in securities that are listed on Asian stock markets and other markets where related securities may be listed and in securities which are listed on markets outside of Asia where more than 70% (by assets or earnings) of the underlying business originates from an Asian country. The Fund aims to generate consistently positive returns which have a low correlation to the Asian stock markets. The objective is to generate 10-20% pa with a standard deviation of 6-10% |
| Manager Comments | The Fund has a particularly low standard deviation of 2.39% (Index 11.63%) and downside deviation of 1.15 (Index 6.92) over the last year. The Manager comments that 'Equity markets started poorly for the year fueled by increased expectation of Fed Tapering and mixed economic data. Contrary to expectation, the Nikkei led the declines in Asia due to US dollar strengthening while spot equity market volatility (measure by the VIX) spiked to ~18%. The Fund weathered this "storm" relatively well in generating alpha, as our low residual beta approach (average net exposure 7.7%) coupled with long volatility hedging lead to the Fund significantly outperforming most equity market benchmarks.' |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Cor Capital Fund
3 Mar 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
In a volatile month Cor Capital Fund returned 0.92% and 4.87% (annualised) since inception in August 2012.
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3 Mar 2014 - Cor Capital Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Cor Capital Fund is a Multi- Asset Fund which combines a pre-determined strategic asset allocation with active but systemised rebalancing to generate returns and manage volatility whilst maintaining transparency and liquidity. The Fund strategy is not reliant on accurate market predictions, forecasts or timing for success. Returns are generated in a number of ways; 1) by maintaining sufficiently large positions in a diverse group of asset classes, 2) via the 'volatility harvesting' consequences of active rebalancing, and 3) from the offsetting behaviour of certain asset classes under specific conditions. The combined portfolio is expected to exhibit relatively low volatility and low turnover. In the interests of avoiding complexity, maintaining liquidity, and minimising reliance on third parties, the Fund strategy does not employ gearing, derivatives or short-selling. |
| Manager Comments | During January the Fund's gold exposure contributed the most to performance (+1.35%), followed by fixed interest (+0.28%) and cash. These positive returns were partly offset by equities (-0.80%). There were no portfolio adjustments for the month with all asset exposures within the limits defined by the Fund's active risk. Although active risk management is the focus, the Manager expects the Fund's disciplined re-balancing to regularly result in successful contrarian moves and additional returns, with profitable changes to its gold position in 2013 a good example. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Fund
28 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong's Long/Short Equity Fund returned -2.32% in January 2014, a difficult market both globally and in Australia, with a twelve month return of 19.07% (ASX 200 Acc 10.98%).
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28 Feb 2014 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Fund (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 cap stocks from the ASX/S&P100 Index, with a ten year track record and annualised net returns of over 20% pa.
- Fund performance was disappointing in January with exposures in the Consumer Discretionary (long) and Materials (short) sectors being the main culprits.
- Since inception in January 2003 the Fund has had positive annual returns each year, including an 11.95% return in 2008 and 20.6% in 2011, both of which were negative years for the ASX200.
- The Fund's risk statistics are also sound with maximum drawdown of 12.22% and 70% positive months. Both the Sharpe Ratio at 1.23 and the Sortino ratio at 2.15, indicate a high reward-to-risk ratio.
- 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.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Fund (pdf format)
Allard Investment Fund
27 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Allard Investment Fund returned -1.1% during January, a good outcome in difficult Asian markets which fell 3.3% (MSCI Pacific ex Japan (A$)).
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27 Feb 2014 - Allard Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund's sector break up was dominated by financial services 17.0%, conglomerates 12.9% and telcos at 9.3%. Cash (and fixed income) continued to provide a useful buffer with volatility approximately two-thirds of the above Index, and was 26.4% of assets at month-end. Geographical weighting was biased to HK/China 35%, Singapore 14.1% and India at 9.4%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Totus Alpha Fund
26 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Totus Alpha Fund returned -0.59% during January, and 57.2% for the previous twelve months with a volatility of 16.9% and Sharpe ratio of 2.65.
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26 Feb 2014 - Totus Alpha Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund is a long/short investment fund principally investing in listed entities, commodities, futures and options in Australia and internationally. The Fund is not a market neutral fund and accordingly may switch between net long positions and net short positions. The Fund may use short sales and derivatives as determined by Totus Capital. Gearing may be used to enhance returns and the Fund may be geared in excess of 100% of the Fund's Net Asset Value. There is a limit to net exposure of 150%. |
| Manager Comments | The Manager's report notes that ' ..caution in early January turned out to be warranted with many of the best performing themes of 2013 (e.g. short gold and gold miners, long japan) reversing sharply in early 2014. The fund was negatively impacted by some of these swings however the damage was again limited by the funds diversification across themes and geographies as well as the lower net exposure it carried intra-month.' |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund
25 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund recorded 1.32% during January, a weak month for domestic equity (-3.03% ASX 200 Acc) and 52.73% during the previous twelve months.
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25 Feb 2014 - Auscap Long Short Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund focuses on fundamental long and short investments. The Fund may utilise a multi-strategy approach if short term opportunities to increase returns, hedge the portfolio, protect capital or minimise volatility are found. The Fund is a high conviction fund and the combined portfolio will typically have 25-45 positions, investing primarily in stocks in the ASX200. The Fund may be net long, short or neutral depending on the strategies employed at the time. The Fund may hold cash so that it is in a position to take advantage of market volatility and compelling investment opportunities as and when they arise. The Fund may be geared up to 200% gross long or short and up to 150% net long or short. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's Sharpe and Sortino's ratio are 3.14 and 9.09 respectively with the comparative Index ratios 1.22 and 2.08. In terms of the portfolio Average gross capital employed by the Fund was 108.6% long and 13.2% short. Average net exposure over the month was +95.4%. At the end of the month the Fund had 29 long positions and 3 short positions. The Fund's biggest exposures at month end were spread across the consumer discretionary, telecommunications and financials sectors. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Pengana Australian Equities Fund
24 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana Australian Equities Fund recorded -2.00% during January and 10.45% for the previous 12 month.
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24 Feb 2014 - Pengana Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund's annualised return since inception in July 2008 is 12.65% with the Index return 4.47%, again with a much lower volatility of 10.19% as compared to 15.06%. The Sharpe and Sortino ratios also show strong reward-to-risk ratios at 0.84 (0.11) and 1.21 (0.04) respectively (index numbers are shown in brackets). The largest positive contributors to the month's performance were DUET Group and Summerset NZ while the largest detractors were Mermaid Marine, ANZ Bank, Fox Group, Seven West Media and Resmed. In terms of the portfolio the Manager comments as at 31st January 2014, cash (including notes and preference shares) represented 21% of the Fund. The top five holdings by value were: DUET Group, Telstra, ANZ Bank, Resmed and NAB and the Fund's exposure to non-Australian dollar earnings streams (inclusive of companies with global earnings profiles such as Resmed, Fox Group, CSL, NZ based companies and US dollar exposure) stood at 23%. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
21 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong's Kardinia Long/Short equity fund returned -2.12% in January 2014, taking returns for the year to 9.91%, with annualised returns since inception of 13.62%.
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21 Feb 2014 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund (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 an eight year track record.
Bennelong's Kardinia Long/Short equity fund returned -2.12% in December 2013, taking returns for the year to 9.91%, broadly in line with annualised returns since inception of 13.72%. By month end the Fund's net exposure to 38.5%, based on 64.3% long, and 25.8% short.
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 the Bennelong Group provide infrastructure, operational, compliance and distribution capabilities.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sean Webster
Research Manager
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund (pdf format)
