NEWS
Performance Report: Surrey Australian Equities Fund
10 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Surrey Australian Equities Fund rose +7.5% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +4.67% and taking 12-month performance to +12.12% vs the Index's -5.08%. Since inception in June 2018, the Fund has returned +7.84%...
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10 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Surrey Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Investment Manager follows a defined investment process which is underpinned by detailed bottom up fundamental analysis, overlayed with sectoral and macroeconomic research. This is combined with an extensive company visitation program where we endeavour to meet with company management and with other stakeholders such as suppliers, customers and industry bodies to improve our information set. Surrey Asset Management defines its investment process as Qualitative, Quantitative and Value Latencies (QQV). In essence, the Investment Manager thoroughly researches an investment's qualitative and quantitative characteristics in an attempt to find value latencies not yet reflected in the share price and then clearly defines a roadmap to realisation of those latencies. Developing this roadmap is a key step in the investment process. By articulating a clear pathway as to how and when an investment can realise what the Investment Manager sees as latent value, defines the investment proposition and lessens the impact of cognitive dissonance. This is undertaken with a philosophical underpinning of fact-based investing, transparency, authenticity and accountability. |
| Manager Comments | Surrey noted that throughout reporting season they have noticed the majority of companies have been on the front foot and upfront with shareholders since the COVID-19 outbreak. This contributed to there being no material earnings surprises within the portfolio. While the Fund had a significant number of positive contributors during the month, on the negative side the fund's gold positions were the main detractors. However, Surrey emphasised that they are very comfortable with each of the Fund's gold holdings and expect them to recover. Looking forward, Surrey are watching the US elections given the divided policies of both candidates. They remain confident in each of their holdings and in the ability of the global economy to recover. The Fund's top holdings at month-end included Austal Limited, Imricor Medical Systems, Omni Bridgeway, Pointsbet and Xero Limited. By sector, the Fund was most heavily weighted towards the IT and industrials sectors. The Fund ended the month with 10% cash and 27 individual stock positions. |
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Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund August 2020
10 Sep 2020 - 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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10 Sep 2020 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund August 2020
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - August 2020 (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 16.26%.
- 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 0.99 and 1.67 respectively.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
AFM Fund Review - August 2020 (pdf format)
Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund August 2020
9 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The latest Fund Review for the Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund is now available. The Fund, which has been in operation for more than 10 years, has a long-biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy and invests in...
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9 Sep 2020 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund August 2020
By: Australian Fund Monitors
AFM Fund Review - August 2020 (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.
- 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 8.82% p.a. with a volatility of 7.28%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation's return of 5.47% p.a. with a volatility of 14.37%.
- The Fund also has a strong focus on capital protection in negative markets. Portfolio Managers Kristiaan Rehder and Stuart Larke 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 - August 2020 (pdf format)
Performance Report: Paragon Australian Long Short Fund
7 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Australian Long Short Fund rose +8.9% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +6.07% and taking 12-month performance to +26.74% against the Index's -5.08%. Since inception in March 2013, the Fund has returned...
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7 Sep 2020 - 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 August included PointsBet, Sezzle, BigTincan and the Fund's gold and silver holdings. These were offset by declines in Oceana and Stockland (short). The Fund ended the month with 29 long positions, 5 short positions and a net exposure of 125%. Paragon noted they are pleased that the Fund is now back at new highs and they remain excited about their outlook. |
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Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Unhedged
4 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Ark Global Fund (unhedged) has returned +9.62% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 13.29% since inception in July 2017. The Fund's down-capture ratio for performance since inception of -69.36% highlights its capacity to significantly...
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4 Sep 2020 - 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 -4.68% in July. The best performers during the month were: Gold (+2.37% of NAV), Euro Stoxx 50 (+2.24% of NAV) and HSCEI (+1.05% of NAV). The worst-performing assets for the month were: Euro Bund (-1.33% of NAV), DAX Index (-1.52% of NAV) and Silver (-1.98% of NAV). |
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Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Hedged
4 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Ark Global Fund (hedged) has risen +2.09% over the past 12 months with a volatility of 10.70%. Since inception in July 2017, the strategy has returned +7.00% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 9.39%.
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4 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Hedged
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 -1.4% in July. The best performers during the month were: Gold (+2.37% of NAV), Euro Stoxx 50 (+2.24% of NAV) and HSCEI (+1.05% of NAV). The worst-performing assets for the month were: Euro Bund (-1.33% of NAV), DAX Index (-1.52% of NAV) and Silver (-1.98% of NAV). |
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Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction
4 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Delft Partners Global High Conviction Strategy has returned +14.14% p.a. with an annualised volatility of +11.79%. By contrast, AFM's Global Equity Index has returned +13.41% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 10.49% over the same period.
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4 Sep 2020 - 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 has achieved an average positive monthly return of +3.26% vs the Index's +2.94%. The Strategy's Sharpe and Sortino ratios for performance since inception are 1.01 and 1.79 respectively. With respect to the Index's 10 best and worst months since the Strategy's inception, the Strategy has outperformed in 6 out of 10 of the Index's worst months and 9 out of 10 of the Index's best months. This highlights the Strategy's capacity to perform well in both rising and falling markets. |
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Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity Fund
3 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Insync Global Quality Equity Fund rose +1.98% in July, taking 12-month performance to +12.06% versus AFM's Global Equity Index's +2.80%. Since inception of the strategy in October 2009, it has returned +13.69% p.a. against the Index's...
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3 Sep 2020 - 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 | At month-end, the portfolio's top holdings included PayPal, Microsoft, Visa, Adobe, JD Sports Fashion, Facebook, Walt Disney, Accenture, S&P Global and Zoetis. The top three megatrends in the portfolio by weight were the 'Age Related Health Solutions' and 'Digitisation' megatrends (both at 14% of the portfolio), followed by the 'Cashless Society' megatrend (13% of the portfolio). |
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Performance Report: Laureola Investment Fund
2 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Laureola Investment Fund rose +2.2% in July, taking performance over the past 12 months to +11.20% with a volatility of 2.17%. Since inception in May 2013, the Fund has returned +16.88% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 5.72%.
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2 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Laureola Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment strategy of The Laureola Investment Fund is dynamic and flexible, designed to take advantage of the frequent but temporary pricing anomalies of an asset class that is not yet fully understood by the majority of participants. Laureola Advisors applies 'best practices' common in the management of traditional assets, particularly the use of independent, in-house, proprietary research. |
| Manager Comments | In their latest report, Laureola highlight the mounting signs of speculative fever, with US stocks up +5.5% in July. They see a significant divergence between asset prices and economic reality, pointing specifically to the following: the US economy declined by 32.9% on an annualised basis last quarter (economies in Europe and Asia plunged by similar or worse rates), 25 major US retailers have filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and the 4 largest US banks have $150bn of loans in 'deferral'. Laureola believe this divergence is based on two beliefs: 1) Governments will always be able to prop up markets with easy money, and 2) these actions will not have significant consequences. However, due to Laureola's lack of conviction in either of these beliefs, they see Life Settlements as a sensible alternative asset class. Performance in July was driven by the maturity of 3 life settlement policies. 80% of the returns YTD have been from maturities which Laureola point out is the true measure of the performance of a Life Settlements fund. The Fund also completed a successful restructuring during the month, putting it on a solid foundation for future growth including lower expenses. The Fund now has capital to deploy, both from new investors and maturities, and the Fund's advisors continue to select policies to ensure future returns and future cash flow. Laureola noted that, due to the nature of Life Settlements as an asset class, the Fund's performance will not be affected if and when economic reality hits asset prices. |
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Performance Report: Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund
1 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund has risen +18.98% over the past 12 months, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by 28.85%. Since inception in June 2013, the Fund has returned +8.27% p.a. versus the Index's annualised...
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1 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The primary objective of the Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund is to generate a mixture of capital and income returns for investors with a high risk profile, over a 5 to 7 year investment period. The Investment Manager believes that markets are fundamentally inefficient and that active investment management will result in higher than 'benchmark' returns. The Fund has adopted the S&P/ASX200 Accumulation Index as the benchmark for its performance. The Investment Manager also believes that, on review of many markets globally, no individual style or method of investing will always ensure outperformance in terms of return on investment. In light of this, the Investment Manager may adopt a 'value', 'growth' or 'momentum' style bias, for example, depending on where the market is in its investment cycle. Further, the Investment Manager believes that actual and forecasted events underpin absolute and relative price movements of securities. The Investment Manager will utilise a number of frameworks to assist in positioning the Fund's portfolio of investments. These include fundamental research, quantitative analysis, and macro and catalyst research. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's capacity to protect investors' capital in falling markets is highlighted by the following statistics (since inception): Sortino ratio of 1.33 vs the Index's 0.49, average negative monthly return of -1.51% vs the Index's -3.10%, maximum drawdown of -8.07% vs the Index's -26.75%, and down-capture ratio of 25.96%. |
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