NEWS
Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund February 2021
15 Mar 2021 - 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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15 Mar 2021 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund February 2021
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - February 2021 (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 19-years' track record and an annualised returns of 14.54%.
- 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 0.87 and 1.38 respectively.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - February 2021 (pdf format)
Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
12 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Australian Long Short Fund rose +16.34% in February, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +14.89% and taking 12-month performance to +65.62% vs the Index's +6.48%. Since inception in March 2013, the Fund has returned...
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12 Mar 2021 - 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 in February included Cettire (long), Betmakers (long), Chalice (long), Ionic and Appen (short), marginally offset by declines in OceanaGold and PointsBet. In their latest report, Paragon highlight double-digit-% price rises across food, base metals, timber and house prices, however, their view is that headline CPI numbers are misrepresentative of true inflation. They believe markets are embracing the breadth and strength across Resources and increasingly the prospect of a super-cycle ahead. |
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Performance Report: Collins St Value Fund
12 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Collins St Value Fund rose +1.02% in February, taking 12-month performance to +51.42% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +6.48%. Since inception in February 2016, the Fund has returned +17.67% p.a. vs the Index's +10.17%.
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12 Mar 2021 - Performance Report: Collins St Value Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The managers of the fund intend to maintain a concentrated portfolio of investments in ASX listed companies that they have investigated and consider to be undervalued. They will assess the attractiveness of potential investments using a number of common industry based measures, a proprietary in-house model and by speaking with management, industry experts and competitors. Once the managers form a view that an investment offers sufficient upside potential relative to the downside risk, the fund will seek to make an investment. If no appropriate investment can be identified the managers are prepared to hold cash and wait for the right opportunities to present themselves. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund has achieved up-capture and down-capture ratios over the past 12 months of 191.57% and 57.8%. This indicates that, on average, the Fund has risen almost twice as much as the market during the market's positive months while falling approximately half as much as the market during the market's negative months. The Fund has outperformed the market in 6 out of 10 of the market's worst months since the Fund's inception, notably outperforming by +4.9% during March 2020 when the Index fell -20.7%. |
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Performance Report: AIM Global High Conviction Fund
12 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The AIM Global High Conviction Fund rose +1.50% in February, in line with AFM's Global Equity Index. The Fund has risen +9.69% over the past 12 months and +4.23% p.a. since inception in July 2015.
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12 Mar 2021 - Performance Report: AIM Global High Conviction Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | AIM look for the following characteristics in the businesses they want to own: - Strong competitive advantages that enable consistently high returns on capital throughout an economic cycle, combined with the ability to reinvest surplus capital at high marginal returns. - A proven ability to generate and grow cash flows, rather than accounting based earnings. - A strong balance sheet and sensible capital structure to reduce the risk of failure when the economic cycle ends or an unexpected crisis occurs. - Honest and shareholder-aligned management teams that understand the principles behind value creation and have a proven track record of capital allocation. They look to buy businesses that meet these criteria at attractive valuations, and then intend to hold them for long periods of time. AIM intend to own between 15 and 25 businesses at any given point. They do not seek to generate returns by constantly having to trade in and out of businesses. Instead, they believe the Fund's long-term return will approximate the underlying economics of the businesses they own. They are bottom-up, fundamental investors. They are cognizant of macro-economic conditions and geo-political risks, however, they do not construct the Fund to take advantage of such events. AIM intend for the portfolio to be between 90% and 100% invested in equities. AIM do not engage in shorting, nor do they use leverage to enhance returns. The Fund's investable universe is global, and AIM look for businesses that have a market capitalisation of at least $7.5bn to guarantee sufficient liquidity to investors. |
| Manager Comments | AIM believe the central driving force behind markets in February was the sharp increase in longer-dated government bond yields. In anticipation of a potential increase in discount rates, the Fund had already reduced its exposure to technology businesses with long duration cash flows from September 2020, selling out of Apple, Netflix and Salesforce.com. Top contributors in February included Estee Lauder, Alphabeet, Mastercard, Berkshite Hathaway and PayPal. Key detractors included ICON PLC, Heineken, Keyence, Amazon.com and UnitedHealth. |
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Performance Report: DS Capital Growth Fund
5 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The DS Capital Growth Fund rose +2.20% in February, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +0.75% and taking 12-month performance to +27.61% vs the Index's +6.48%. Since inception in January 2013, the Fund has returned +15.99% p.a....
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5 Mar 2021 - Performance Report: DS Capital Growth Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment team looks for industrial businesses that are simple to understand; they generally avoid large caps, pure mining, biotech and start-ups. They also look for: - Access to management; - Businesses with a competitive edge; - Profitable companies with good margins, organic growth prospects, strong market position and a track record of healthy dividend growth; - Sectors with structural advantage and barriers to entry; - 15% p.a. pre-tax compound return on each holding; and - A history of stable and predictable cash flows that DS Capital can understand and value. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's Sharpe and Sortino ratios (since inception), 1.23 and 1.83 respectively, by contrast with the Index's Sharpe of 0.57 and Sortino of 0.69, highlight its capacity to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns while avoiding the market's downside volatility. The Fund's capacity to outperform in negative markets is demonstrated by its down-capture ratio (since inception) of 45% which indicates that, on average, the Fund has fallen less than half as much as the market during the market's negative months. |
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Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity Fund
3 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Insync Global Quality Equity Fund has risen +5.71% over the past 12 months vs AFM's Global Equity Index's +2.59%. Since inception in October 2009, the Fund has returned +13.41% p.a. vs the Index's +11.07%.
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3 Mar 2021 - 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 | The Fund returned -3.63% in January. Insync noted there were two main drivers behind the Fund's monthly return; investor uncertainty with the approach of earnings season, and the switch by many institutional investors from growth stocks to cyclicals. Several of the Fund's holdings declined as a result, these included Visa, Nintendo, Disney, Estee Lauder, Facebook, Adobe and Dollar General. Microsoft, Home Depot and Qualcomm all contributed positively. The majority of the Fund's holdings remained flat. Insync believe reinflation prospects remain dim despite the latest US bond rate moves. Contributing factors include negative industry lending flows and investment. Their view is that conditions supporting defensive growth beyond the near-term remain strong. |
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Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction
2 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Delft Global High Conviction Strategy rose +3.29% in January, outperforming AFM's Global Equity Benchmark by +3.09% and taking annualised performance since inception in August 2011 to +14.93% with an annualised volatility of 11.78%.
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2 Mar 2021 - Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The quantitative model is proprietary and designed in-house. The critical elements are Valuation, Momentum, and Quality (VMQ) and every stock in the global universe is scored and ranked. Verification of the quant model scores is then cross checked by fundamental analysis in which a company's Accounting policies, Governance, and Strategic positioning is evaluated. The manager believes strategy is suited to investors seeking returns from investing in global companies, diversification away from Australia and a risk aware approach to global investing. It should be noted that this is a strategy in an IMA format and is not offered as a fund. An IMA solution can be a more cost and tax effective solution, for clients who wish to own fewer stocks in a long only strategy. |
| Manager Comments | The Strategy's Sharpe and Sortino ratios (since inception) are 1.08 and 1.97 respectively, highlighting its capacity to achieve good risk-adjusted returns while avoiding the market's downside volatility. The Strategy has an average positive monthly return of +3.28% and an average negative monthly return of -2.05%. With respect to the Index's 10 best and worst months since the Strategy's inception, the Strategy has outperformed in 9 out of 10 of the Index's best months and 6 out of 10 of the Index's worst months. This highlights its capacity to outperform in both rising and falling markets. |
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Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Unhedged
2 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
Since inception in July 2017, the Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Unhedged has returned +5.99% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 13.07%. The Fund's down-capture ratio (since inception) of -67.12% indicates that, on average, it has...
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2 Mar 2021 - Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Unhedged
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment objective of the Fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation with low correlation to global equity markets through investment in the Underlying Fund. Fund One is a global macro fund that utilises quantitative research including machine learning techniques and fully automated trading algorithms which will aim to generate positive uncorrelated returns relative to any significant equity benchmark. The traded instruments are either major FX pairs or the most liquid exchange traded stock index, bond, and commodity futures across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The algorithm backtests over 10 years of tick data and in order to do so effectively requires machine learning to filter noise and identify meaningful signals, which results in statistically significant prediction of price movements. In production this processing is done in real time and the portfolio reacts to asset movements by rebalancing automatically to the desired risk exposure through the market impact optimised execution logic. Risk management layers built into the algorithm have been developed using the experience the team has gained from their decades in highly liquid fast-moving markets in the proprietary High Frequency Trading world. This allows the system to trade autonomously but safely to all trading opportunities and potential system issues, and to alert the team to any behaviour outside of strictly controlled bounds. The Fund is a 'feeder fund' which indirectly gains exposure to the underlying assets by investing all or substantially all of its assets in the Underlying Fund. The Fund may retain a certain amount of cash from the investment in the Fund for the purpose of payment of costs, fees, hedging and expenses. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund returned -0.76% in January. The best performing assets for the month were: Euro STOXX 50 Index (+4.27% of NAV), Nikkei 225 (+1.50% of NAV) and Gold (+1.13% of NAV). The worst performing assets for the month were: E-mini S&P500 (-1.77% of NAV), Hang Seng Index (-1.92% of NAV) and DAX Index (-4.43% of NAV). |
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Fund Review: Insync Global Capital Aware Fund January 2021
1 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Insync Global Capital Aware Fund is now available. The Global Capital Aware Fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 15-30 stocks, targeting exceptional, large cap global companies with a strong focus on dividend...
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1 Mar 2021 - Fund Review: Insync Global Capital Aware Fund January 2021
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - January 2021 (pdf format)
INSYNC GLOBAL CAPITAL AWARE FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the Insync Global Capital Aware Fund.
We would like to highlight the following:
- The Global Capital Aware 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 - January 2021 (pdf format)
Performance Report: Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund
1 Mar 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund rose +3.58% in January, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +3.27% and taking 12-month performance to +16.23% vs the Index's -3.11%. Since inception in November 2017, the Fund has risen...
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1 Mar 2021 - Performance Report: Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund may invest in securities expected to be listed on the ASX within 12 months. The Fund may also invest in securities listed, or expected to be listed, on other exchanged where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's Sortino ratio (since inception) of 1.14 vs the Index's 0.47 highlights its capacity to avoid the market's downside volatility over the long-term. The Fund's up-capture ratio (since inception) of 340.92% indicates that, on average, it has risen more than 3 times as much as the market during the market's positive months. The Fund has achieved up-capture ratios above 269% over the past 12, 24 and 36 months. Bennelong continue to seek to invest in high quality companies that they believe have solid growth prospects over the foreseeable future. They note that, despite the market's inevitable short-term volatility, they believe the portfolio's investments are all incrementally building value which they expect will underpin strong outperformance over the long-term. The portfolio remains diversified across sector and risk-return drivers. |
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