NEWS
The Paragon Fund
20 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Paragon Fund returned -1.1% for January, while the ASX 200 Acc Index fell 3.03%, and 14.10% over the previous six months.
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20 Feb 2014 - The Paragon Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Paragon accepts that markets are not always efficient in pricing information into securities and that no one investment style works in every stage of the investment cycle. Subsequently Paragon adopts a top down thematic led approach to identify companies exhibiting sustainable or improving returns on capital driven by volume growth, pricing power and competitive advantages. Paragon utilises both quantitative analysis to provide probability weighted high/low/base case valuations and qualitative analysis in assessing management, the business model and likely direction of returns. Paragon will allocate assets to each investment opportunity based on a risk/reward profile. Positions have defined investment parameters and risk limits, which are then monitored on an ongoing basis. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund has recorded a Sharpe ratio of 2.00 since inception and strong up and down capture ratios of 0.70 and -0.18 respectively. The Manager notes that key drivers of the Paragon Fund performance for January included a combination of: Strong returns from our technology investments including core holding Xero; Reducing the net equity exposure from 80% at the beginning of the month to 50% by month end. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund
19 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund returned -2.5% during January, a weak month for local equities which fell -3.03%, and 12.52% for the previous 12 months.
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19 Feb 2014 - Pengana Australian Equities Market Neutral Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The manager's investment approach is premised on the belief that fundamental factors (such as earnings, cash flow and profit growth) affect stock prices, but that the adoption of quantitative techniques (i.e. computer based models) provides an advantage in assimilating and analysing this information, and building an efficient portfolio. The Fund's portfolio is constructed to be 'Market Neutral' i.e. it aims to have little or no overall exposure to movements in the equity market. The aim of low exposure to market movements is to enhance the consistency of the portfolio's performance and to provide diversification from other market oriented investments. |
| Manager Comments | Since inception the Fund has delivered 8.95% as compared to 4.74% for the ASX 200 Acc Index with a volatility of 7.99% as compared to 15.06% for the Index. The manager comments that the Momentum factor dominated performance over January with Revisions, Value and Quality factors under-performing. The market made a notable shift away from the Quality factor, in particular the stability of earnings. Overall the Fund's fundamental factors failed to gain traction in a market environment where the continued push for increased risk appetite was against rapidly falling market volumes and volatility. |
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Monash Absolute Investment Fund
17 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Monash Absolute Investment Fund returned 0.80% for January, a strong performance against the Index (-3.03%) and 26.7% for the latest 12 months.
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17 Feb 2014 - Monash Absolute Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | 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. |
| Manager Comments | During the month, the Fund closed out 5 event trades, entered 4, and the net exposure of the portfolio fell marginally to 81% net and 93% gross. The portfolio was well served by its focus on investing only in compelling opportunities, with stocks rallying by a small amount despite the weak market. |
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Insync Global Titans Fund
14 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Insync Global Titans Fund returned -0.86% during January and 23.33% over the last year with a Sharpe ratio of 2.47.
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14 Feb 2014 - Insync Global Titans Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The main positive contributions for the month came from our holdings in Comcast, BSkyB and TE Connectivity. The main negative contributors were BAT, Coach and Sanofi. The Fund, currently having no foreign exchange hedging in place, benefitted from a slight depreciation of the Australian dollar in January. The Fund has no direct emerging market exposure. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
13 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund returned 0.32% during January and 8.12% for the previous 12 months with a very low volatility of 1.39% (S&P ASX 200 Accum 11.54%).
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13 Feb 2014 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund aims to produce positive returns irrespective of the direction of the share market. For each investment the manager considers the risk, the timeline of that risk occurring and then the potential return. Low transaction costs and liquidity are other important factors in the success and implementation of the strategies. |
| Manager Comments | All portfolio strategies were positive with the exception of Options at -0.05%. For the best two performing strategies the manager comments that 'Long/Short (+0.8%) performed well despite mostly comprising of long positions in the small to mid cap space.' and for the Acquisition strategy 'January proved to be a very quiet time for Mergers and Acquisitions (+0.6%) except for Dexus Property declaring its bid for Commonwealth Property Office Fund unconditional. We expect this year will provide a raft of new deals across the market capitalisation spectrum as companies seek to create value, and extract synergies via mergers and takeovers.' |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
12 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund returned -2.12% during January and 9.91% over the previous twelve months with a volatility of 4.01%.
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12 Feb 2014 - Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund consists of a concentrated long/short portfolio typically comprising 30 to 40 ASX300 listed stocks, generally with a long bias aligned to the overall market direction. There is a slight bias to large cap stocks in the long side of the portfolio, although in a rising market the portfolio will tend to hold smaller caps, including resource stocks, more frequently. On the short side, the portfolio is particularly concentrated, with stock selection limited by both liquidity and the difficulty of borrowing stock in smaller cap companies. Short positions are only taken when there is a high conviction view on the specific stock. The Fund uses derivatives in a limited way, mainly selling short dated covered call options to generate additional income. These typically have less than 30 days to expiry, and are usually 5% to 10% out of the money. ASX SPI futures and index put options can be used to hedge the portfolio's overall net position. |
| Manager Comments | The manager comments that 'long positions in Vocation and short positions in Webjet and Share Price Index futures contracts were the largest positive contributors to performance, whilst Twenty-First Century Fox, Super Retail and Seek were the largest detractors. Net equity market exposure was progressively decreased during the month to 38.5% (64.3% long and 25.8% short).' |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
11 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia Absolute Trust returned 0.57% during January, a weak month for domestic equities, and 1.60% for the last twelve months with a volatility of 1.83%. Since inception in September 2008 the annualised return is 10.34%.
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11 Feb 2014 - 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 was 45.0% long and 30.4% short for net exposure of 14.6% as at month-end. The manager comments that they 'still think that 2014 looms as less about a one-way bet on equities and the impact of financial repression on risk assets, and much more about stock selection and risk management. After the large gains in equity markets last year, it may just be that investment allocations are much more 'all-in' than commonly thought. Investors seem to struggle to defend their more over-owned and popular market leaders even at these lower price levels, and an air of caution may pervade for a while longer through what may well be a challenging earnings season through February.' |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Fund Review: BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
10 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
AFM's updated Fund Review for the BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund for December. The current strategy has returned 8.85% pa since inception (July 2004), annualised volatility of 4.14% and 13.88% and only three negative months since May 2010.
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10 Feb 2014 - Fund Review: BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
BLACKROCK MULTI OPPORTUNITY FUND
Attached is our most recently updated Fund Review on the BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund.
We would like to highlight the following aspects of the Fund:
- The Fund offers broad diversification across asset classes including equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities with an attractive risk profile, having provided double digit returns in 2009 through 2012 with low volatility of 4.14% since inception.
- The current strategy has seen the Fund record only three negative months since May 2010, leading to annualised returns over the past 48 months (to October 2013) of 12.31% and an annualised volatility of 2.13% pa. The four year Sharpe Ratio is 3.66, indicating an excellent reward-to-risk ratio.
- BlackRock's Active Scientific involves extensive research into every aspect of the investment process starting with the identification of fundamental investment insights. These are thoroughly tested to ensure that the outcome consistently adds to performance: Quantitative analysis is also applied to balance both performance and risk ensuring the position is only taken when the potential for reward is adequate. Only insights meeting this multi level process are implemented into portfolios.
Research and Database Manager
Australian Fund Monitors
BlackRock Multi Opportunity Fund AFM Review - December 2013Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
10 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Morphic Global Opportunities Fund returned -1.66% in January,a negative month for global equities, and 34.52% for the previous twelve months.
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10 Feb 2014 - Morphic Global Opportunities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund's performance statistics are sound with a Sharpe ratio of 2.99, up and down capture ratio's of 0.73 and -1.11 and 83% positive months. The volatile intra-month performance of the Fund mirrored that of most world stock markets, which were weak initially, then rallied strongly, only to sell-off sharply at the end of the month. Though stock correlations tend to be high in sharp sell-offs, the Fund's portfolio had a number of bright spots. The Fund closed the month 96% invested due to growing caution about the outlook, but nothing near conviction of the last two years bull market is over yet. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
7 Feb 2014 - Australian Fund Monitors
Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned -2.32% during January, a difficult market both globally and in Australia, with the twelve return 19.07%.
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7 Feb 2014 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Fund performance was disappointing in January with exposures in the Consumer Discretionary (long) and Materials (short) sectors being the main culprits. Earnings are the key focus for local market participants leading into the February interim reporting period, particularly given several profit warnings announced in January. Investors are being reminded that the market re-rating that occurred throughout 2013 needs to be supported by earnings in an environment where growth is generally only modest. |
| More Information | » View detailed profile of this fund |
