NEWS
Performance Report: Frazis Fund
23 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Frazis Fund rose +15.5% in August, taking 12-month performance to +52.02% vs AFM's Global Equity Index's +6.41%. Since inception in July 2018, the Fund has returned +18.57% p.a. vs the Index's annualised return over the same period of +9.39%.
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23 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Frazis Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The manager follows a disciplined, process-driven, and thematic strategy focused on five core investment strategies: 1) Growth stocks that are really value stocks; 2) Traditional deep value; 3) The life sciences; 4) Miners and drillers expanding production into supply deficits; 5) Global special situations; The manager uses a macro overlay to manage exposure, hedging in three ways: 1) Direct shorts 2) Upside exposure to the VIX index 3) Index optionality |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's August return was achieved with over 35 positions. Since initial purchase, some of the Fund's best performing investments include Afterpay (return since initial purchase of 17x), Carvana (5x), Shopify (5x), Xero (4x) and Tesla (4x). Frazis noted their systematic framework based around customer love and explosive growth is working to identify strong performing stocks long before they become household names. They are currently working on a number of new undisclosed opportunities that, in addition to having a devoted customer fanbase and explosive growth, are trading at the low multiples that marked the stocks mentioned previously as good buys. Frazis aim to remain invested in the highest quality and fastest growing companies they can find. |
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Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund
22 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Glenmore Australian Equities Fund rose +11.52% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +8.69%. Since inception in June 2017, the Fund has returned +19.02% p.a. vs the Index's annualised return over the same period of +5.90%.
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22 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The main driver of identifying potential investments will be bottom up company analysis, however macro-economic conditions will be considered as part of the investment thesis for each stock. |
| Manager Comments | Top contributors to performance in August included People Infrastructure, ARB Corporation, Temple and Webster, Integral Diagnostics, NRW Holdings, Alliance Aviation Services, Fiducian Group, Mineral Resources and Collins Foods. There were no detractors of any materiality during the month. Glenmore noted in their latest report that in Australia, with the exception of Victoria, all other states appear to have the virus under control. They believe the most likely scenario to be a continuation of the current economic settings (low interest rates, subdued economic growth, fiscal stimulus), which they expect will be sufficient for continued positive market conditions for equity investors. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
22 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose +5.63% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +2.8% and taking 12-month performance to +4.69% vs the Index's -5.08%. Since inception in May 2006, the Fund has returned...
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22 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: 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 | The best performers in the portfolio in August included stocks leveraged to new technologies whilst more defensive stocks lagged. Positive contributors included Zip Co, Pointsbet, Harvest Technology, Kogan and Charter Hall. Key detractors included West African, Aroa Biosurgery, National Australia Bank, Pilbara and Polynovo. Kardinia increased net market exposure modestly to 74.5% (90.0% long and 15.5% short), with the key changes being new positions in NRW Holdings, Qantas, Redbubble and Vicinity Centres, as well as increased weightings in Austal, Alumina, Flight Centre and Pointsbet. This was partially offset by a short position in Share Price Index Futures. Kardinia believe the portfolio has a good mix of stocks that benefit from both a lockdown scenario and a re-opening scenario, with more recent additions resulting in a tilt towards the latter. They believe good progress is being made on potential vaccines and treatments and expect Governments will increasingly move towards a 'living with the virus' approach as the economic damage from lockdowns becomes apparent. |
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Performance Report: Insync Global Capital Aware Fund
21 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Insync Global Capital Aware Fund rose +6.52% in August, outperforming the AFM Global Equity Index by +3.73% and taking 12-month performance to +20.86% vs the Index's +6.41%. Since inception in October 2009, the Fund has returned...
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21 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Insync Global Capital Aware 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 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 | At month-end, the portfolio's top holdings included PayPal, Facebook, Adobe, Visa, Microsoft, Domino's Pizza, S&P Global, JD Sports Fashion, Walt Disney and Nvidia. The top three megatrends in the portfolio by weight were the 'Digitisation' megatrend (14% of the portfolio), 'Age related health solutions' megatrend (12%) and the 'Cashless Society' megatrend (12%). In their latest report, Insync discuss the 'Universal Basic Income' megatrend; a secular shift towards value-for-money based consumption. They expect that by 2040 automation, AI and robots will be in operation in businesses across all industries, improving efficiencies and creating profit while displacing many jobs. The UBI megatrend is one of the 16 global megatrends in the portfolio and exemplifies the diversity of the Fund's investments. |
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Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund
21 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Quay Global Real Estate Fund rose +0.10% in August, comprising +2.6% from underlying stock performance masked by a negative currency impact of -2.5%. Since inception in January 2016, the Fund has returned +5.22% p.a. with an annualised...
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21 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 rose +0.10% in August, comprising +2.6% from underlying stock performance masked by a negative currency impact of -2.5%. Since inception in January 2016, the Fund has returned +5.22% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 11.92%. Quay noted the theme throughout August was very much for the 're-open' sectors, with the portfolio's best performers including Scentre Group (Australian Retail), Wharf REIC (Hong Kong Retail), and Shurgard (Europrean Storage). The 'COVID safe' sectors were among the Fund's worst contributors. These included Coresite (US Data), Alexandria REIT (US Life Sciences), and Apartment Investment Co (US Multifamily). Quay believe the great challenge for investors today is determining whether the recent post-COVID trends are permanent or temporary. With respect to real estate, they see some of the key questions to be:
Quay's observation is that the market is extrapolating the past three to four months' trends into perpetuity. The portfolio remains balanced between 'COVID safe' and 're-open' sectors, however, Quay have begun to increase the weighting towards the 're-open' sectors as they feel much of the doomsday scenarios are close to being fully priced in. |
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Performance Report: Cyan C3G Fund
18 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Cyan C3G Fund rose +11.70% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +8.87% and taking annualised performance since inception in August 2014 to +16.42% vs the Index's annualised return over the same period of +5.65%.
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18 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Cyan C3G Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Cyan C3G Fund is based on the investment philosophy which can be defined as a comprehensive, clear and considered process focused on delivering growth. These are identified through stringent filter criteria and a rigorous research process. The Manager uses a proprietary stock filter in order to eliminate a large proportion of investments due to both internal characteristics (such as gearing levels or cash flow) and external characteristics (such as exposure to commodity prices or customer concentration). Typically, the Fund looks for businesses that are one or more of: a) under researched, b) fundamentally undervalued, c) have a catalyst for re-rating. The Manager seeks to achieve this investment outcome by actively managing a portfolio of Australian listed securities. When the opportunity to invest in suitable securities cannot be found, the manager may reduce the level of equities exposure and accumulate a defensive cash position. Whilst it is the company's intention, there is no guarantee that any distributions or returns will be declared, or that if declared, the amount of any returns will remain constant or increase over time. The Fund does not invest in derivatives and does not use debt to leverage the Fund's performance. However, companies in which the Fund invests may be leveraged. |
| Manager Comments | Throughout August there were less than a handful of positions in the portfolio that fell while more than half of the Fund's holdings enjoyed double-digit rises. Notable positive contributors included QuickFee (+25%), Raiz (+23%), Kelly Partners (+22%), Jumbo Interactive (+24%), and New Zealand Coastal (+89%). Through a number of recent corporate opportunities including IPOs and placements, Cyan have committed to making new investments and adding to existing ones such as: Spirit Telecom, Universal Biosensors, City Chic, Kip McGrath and Harvest Technologies. Cyan noted the dichotomy between the strong performance of sections of the market and the current economic outlook feels acute. They believe the challenge is striking a balance between enjoying the market tailwinds whilst being cognisant of the challenging economic headwinds. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund
17 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund rose +13.87% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +11.04% and taking 12-month performance to +15.31% vs the Index's -5.08%. Since inception in November 2017, the Fund has returned...
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17 Sep 2020 - 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 | Bennelong continue to seek to invest in high quality companies that they believe have solid growth prospects over the foreseeable future. They noted that, despite the inevitable short term volatility of the market, they believe the portfolio's investments are all incrementally building value which they expect should underpin decent returns over the long term. |
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Performance Report: DS Capital Growth Fund
17 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The DS Capital Growth Fund rose +6.60% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +3.77% and taking 12-month performance to +15.72% vs the Index's -5.08%. Since inception in December 2012, the Fund has returned +15.15% p.a....
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17 Sep 2020 - 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 capacity to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns whilst avoiding the market's downside volatility is highlighted by the following statistics (since inception): Sharpe ratio of 1.15 vs the Index's 0.53, Sortino ratio of 1.67 vs the Index's 0.61, and down-capture ratio of 45.22%. The Fund's down-capture ratio 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: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund
16 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund rose +11.02% in August, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +8.19% and taking 12-month performance to +18.01% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's -5.08%. Since inception in February 2009,...
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16 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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 Fund has an up-capture ratio of 141.6% and Sortino ratio of 1.10 vs the Index's Sortino of 0.67 for performance since inception. This highlights the Fund's capacity significantly outperform in rising markets while avoiding the market's downside volatility. As at the end of August, the Fund's weightings had been increased in the Discretionary and IT sectors, and decreased in the Health Care, Materials, REIT's, Communication, Consumer Staples, Industrials and Financials sectors. |
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Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund
16 Sep 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The NWQ Fiduciary Fund rose +1.93% in August, taking 12-month performing to +8.50% with a volatility of 9.79% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's return over the same period of -5.08% with a volatility of 25.30%. Since inception in May...
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16 Sep 2020 - Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce returns after management fees and expenses of RBA Cash Rate + 4.0-5.0% p.a. over rolling five-year periods. Furthermore, the Fund aims to achieve these returns with volatility that is a fraction of the Australian equity market, in order to smooth returns for investors. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's capacity to limit capital loss in falling markets is highlighted by the following statistics (since inception): Sortino ratio of 1.09 vs the Index's 0.45, maximum drawdown of -8.77% vs the Index's -26.75%, and down-capture ratio of 13.93%. NWQ noted August reporting season presented numerous opportunities for the underlying managers to deliver stock-specific alpha on both the long (companies that beat expectation and re-rated) and short (companies that missed expectations and derated) sides of their portfolios. The Fund continues to maintain a low net market exposure to protect capital in the event of a sustained market selloff. NWQ believe the current market environment continues to present a rich opportunity set for the Fund's underlying managers. They added that these managers have benefited in recent months from the clear and present themes in the market around the winners and losers from COVID-19, elevated return dispersion among stocks within the index and heightened levels of corporate activity. NWQ expect these features of the current environment to continue and believe the Fund is well positioned to capitalise on the rich opportunity set for long/short investing. |
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