NEWS
Cor Capital Fund
19 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
During May the Cor Capital Fund returned 1.23% bringing the 12-month return to 8.04%, exceeding the RBA Cash Rate Benchmark by 5.6%
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19 Jun 2015 - 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 | The equities (+2.0%) and gold (+3.0%) components of the portfolio were the major performance contributors for May. The ASX200 Accum Index was up only 0.40% with the difference resulting from the Fund's less concentrated equity portfolio. |
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Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
18 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust reported a net positive return in May of 2.04%, compared to the ASX200 Accumulation Index of 0.40%.
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18 Jun 2015 - 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 had a gross exposure of 99.0% and net exposure of 7.2%. The stock selection during the month was solid, with positive attribution on both the Fund's long (+2.0%) and short (+0.3%) positions. The short position in the banks did its work, and a number of the longs in materials also did well, including ALS, Alumina, Sims Group, and PanAust. Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's commentary on the Fund and market outlook. |
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The Paragon Fund
18 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Fund returned 2.40% versus the ASX 200 Accumulation's 0.40%, for the month of May 2015. The Fund's annual return since inception has been 21.66% p.a. versus the Index's 10.39% p.a.
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18 Jun 2015 - 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 drivers of the Paragon Fund's performance for May included solid returns from Macquarie, Henderson Group, Orocobre, Nanosonics and Reward Minerals. Short positions in REA Group and 1-Page also contributed. At the end of the month the fund had 33 long positions and 14 short positions Click below to read the latest Fund Manager's commentary. |
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Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund May 2015
17 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Fund Review available for Bennelong Long Short Fund which has over twelve year track record and annualised returns of 17.05%.
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17 Jun 2015 - Fund Review: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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 over twelve year track record and annualised returns of 17.05%.
- 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. The Fund's Sharpe Ratio and Sortino Ratio are 1.03 (Index 0.36) and 1.71 (Index 0.40) respectively.
For further details on the Fund, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
17 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund rose 3.79% in May as its benchmark (MSCI AC World Total Return in Australian Dollars) rose 2.91%, resulting in
outperformance of 0.88%.
outperformance of 0.88%.
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17 Jun 2015 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The biggest contribution to performance was from the exposure to the US health service sector, represented by HCA Holdings and Anthem. The second biggest winner came from the US bank exposure as banks there rallied on the back of a steeper yield curve, improving their margins. The main detractors from the month's performance was mainly due to the pullback in the Chinese market and stocks relating to that position. The Fund has over 50.2% of their equity exposure in North American and 33.0% in the Financial Sector. The Fund closed May fully invested, with the continuing overweight to China, along with lesser overweights to India and Japan, funded from underweight positions in the US and Europe and the rest of the emerging markets. Click below to read the Fund Manager's monthly report and their June outlook of the market. |
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Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
16 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund rose
0.41% in May, to bring the Fund's annual performance since inception to 13.01% compared to the ASX200 Accumulation benchmark's 5.60%.
0.41% in May, to bring the Fund's annual performance since inception to 13.01% compared to the ASX200 Accumulation benchmark's 5.60%.
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16 Jun 2015 - 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 Fund's net equity market exposure, including derivatives increased to 41.2% (74.3% long and 33.1% short). Long positions in James Hardie, Amcorand Sirius were the largest positive contributors. A long position in Resmed and a short position in Share Price Index Futures (hedging long exposures) were the largest detractors. Click below to read the May 2015 Fund Report. |
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Fund Review: Monash Absolute Investment Fund May 2015
16 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Read the latest Fund Review with statistics since inception on Monash Absolute Investment Fund.
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16 Jun 2015 - Fund Review: Monash Absolute Investment Fund May 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Monash Absolute Investment Fund Review May 2015 (pdf format)
MONASH ABSOLUTE INVESTMENT FUND
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- The Fund is a research driven, active equity long/short strategy investing in listed ASX companies.
- The Fund seeks to identify opportunities in the share market to make positive returns (long and short) irrespective of market conditions. It is style agnostic, as compelling investment opportunities exist across all investment styles from time to time. The Fund places a high priority on capital preservation, and has an absolute return focus in accepting market risk.
If you have any questions in relation to the Fund Review, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Allard Investment Fund
15 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Allard Investment Fund's (AIF), net of all fees, increased 1.0% during the month of May 2015.
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15 Jun 2015 - Allard Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund portfolio was invested 75.5% in equities and 24.5% in cash and fixed income. There has been little change since the prior month, in terms of the industry and geographic breakdown of the portfolio. The Fund continues to be most exposed to Financial Services at 17.30%, Conglomerates at 10.80% and Telco's at 10.70%. The geographic breakdown was Hong Kong / China at 43.00%, Singapore 10.80% and Korea 9.70%. The top 5 holdings had 40.10% concentration of the portfolio and 17.20% in the next 5 holdings. Click below to review the latest Fund Manager's Report. |
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Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
12 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund performance in May was down 1.91% compared to the ASX200 Accumulation Index return of 0.40%.
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12 Jun 2015 - 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. |
| Manager Comments | The short positions were more the driver of the Fund's under-performance than the long positions. A review of the key contributing loss-making shorts, has the Fund Manager confident it was not due to fundamental factors, more the noise associated short-term monthly measurement. The Fund activity for the month of May was modest with weightings revised for few pairs, with a new pair within the Financials sectors - long National Australia Bank / short Bendigo Bank. Click below to read the Fund Manager's complete commentary and future market outlook. |
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Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund April 2015
11 Jun 2015 - Australian Fund Monitors
Latest Fund Review on Insync Global Titans Fund is now available.
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11 Jun 2015 - Fund Review: Insync Global Titans Fund April 2015
By: Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund AFM Fund Review April 2015 (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 decreaed by 0.40% during the month of April. The performance was driven by positive contributions from our holdings in Nestle, Reckitt Benckiser, Experian and Sanofi as well as the weaker Australian dollar. The main negative contributors were Time Warner Cable, Microsoft and Discover Financial Services. The Fund continues to have no foreign currency hedging in place as Insync consider the main risks to the Australian dollar to be on the downside.
- 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.

