NEWS
PM CAPITAL Enhanced Yield Fund
21 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The PM Capital Enhanced Yield Fund delivers 0.7% during January and 6.6% over the preceding 12 months, a solid return in a low interest rate environment.
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21 Feb 2013 - PM CAPITAL Enhanced Yield Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The manager has noted that credit spreads continued to tighten over January as global stimulus and the stronger US economy fueled confidence and assets moved out of cash into riskier assets. As a result some of the funds investments were sold and rotated into more attractive opportunities. Strong results were recorded from a number of yield securities including APT Pipelines, Tabcorp, Crown and RBS. Buy and write strategies over Google, Applied Materials and MGM contributed. Notably there were no negative contributors for the month. The fund has a very low interest rate duration of 0.2 years and a cash exposure at end-Jan of 31.8% and a 92% allocation to Australia. |
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Platinum International Brands Fund
20 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Platinum International Brands Fund rose 2.44% during January and 26.1% over the preceding 12 months, strongly out-performing the global MSCI ($A) benchmark.
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20 Feb 2013 - Platinum International Brands Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The concept behind the Fund is that the process of globalisation, which involves the removal of impediments to ownership, international trade and promotion, will see the emergence of 'mega-brands'. Companies with these strong positions are likely to be able to augment the growth in their relatively mature but stable home markets by tapping faster growth in emerging markets, which are experiencing rising living standards. Alternatively, powerful regional brands can expect to enjoy strong growth and profitability and may even be taken over by global operators on account of the regional brand's local dominance. The portfolio will invest in companies around the world, including producers of luxury goods, other consumer durables, as well as food, beverages, household and personal care products, retailers, and financial services. |
| Manager Comments | The fund achieved the above returns while holding cash and short positions at 24.8% of the fund's value. The manager notes that a number of companies have benefited from the very low interest rates to become more acquisitive. This has assisted some of the Fund's holdings more recently. In addition, the fund is looking to exploit some of the opportunities that are arising in Africa from the rapid increase in consumer spending and flowing from this, demand for luxury brands. Notably the fund has a 71% exposure to the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors with little exposure to the other Index components. Investors should keep this exposure in mind as a risk factor. Despite a generally positive outlook the manager remains concerned about periodic volatility deriving from global sovereign debt issues and is therefore likely to continue hold higher levels of cash. |
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Platinum Japan Fund - AUD
19 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Platinum Japan Fund rose 4.66% in January, assisted by moves in the Yen, and is up 21.2% for 12 months, out-performing the buoyant Japanese equity market.
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19 Feb 2013 - Platinum Japan Fund - AUD
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The fund out-performed as a result of it's increased holding to exporters, the primary beneficiaries of the weaker Yen, as well as hedging just under half it's Yen exposure. This assisted in protecting asset values from the depreciating Yen on translation back into AUD. The fund also had cash of 1.6% and shorts of 4.8% of NAV. The manager also notes that the outlook for corporate Japan is improving and that exporters have significant profit gearing to the weaker Yen hence the fund's relatively high net long exposure to the market. |
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Kapstream Absolute Return Income Fund
18 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
Kapstream Absolute Return Income Fund delivers 8.42% over the last 12 months despite low global interest rates.
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18 Feb 2013 - Kapstream Absolute Return Income Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Kapstream draws on information from many sources such as economic roundtables, investment banks, brokers, rating agencies and central banks. Kapstream employs a rigorous evaluation process for individual trades, first confirming that a prospective trade meets Kapstream's global macroeconomic view, then taking account of various decision variables such as duration, yield curve and volatility which must support the research and analysis. |
| Manager Comments | The manager attributes the good returns to a credit spread rally and a conservative interest-rate position in the portfolio. Other strategy themes include a preference for; floating rate assets to fixed-rate assets on the assumption that monetary policy will tighten at some point, corporate bonds to sovereign bonds and a preference for Asian names and larger allocations to the region. Of interest is that the Fund also favors the debt of Australian/Asian and US financials. In Australia, the fund holds the debt of the big 4 banks including senior debt and lower Tier 1 and Tier 2 paper. The fund has also taken short positions on the 10 year bonds rates of Australia, Korea and Japan via options. The Manager has a reasonably positive view on the US but remains concerned with respect to the outlook for Europe and, to a lesser degree, Australia. |
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Platinum International Fund
15 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
Platinum delivers 4.68% during January and up a strong 18.72% over the six months.
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15 Feb 2013 - Platinum International Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund did well from its European holdings as well as Japanese investments, where the Topix rose 9%. The Japanese investments were aided by Yen hedging and derivative exposure to the Topix, but somewhat hampered by a lack of exposure to exporters, the major beneficiaries of the weaker Yen. The Fund also benefited from a reduced short exposure of 12%, its lowest position in years. The Fund was impacted by the decline in some Chinese holdings as the SEC indicated concerns over Chinese company reporting. The manager has a positive outlook for equities based on economic factors, reduced risk aversion and equity valuations. While not calling a bull market the manager does see a period of equity buoyancy and the fund is invested accordingly. |
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Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
14 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
Aurora Fortitude delivers -0.19% during January, a difficult month for absolute return funds.
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14 Feb 2013 - Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The fund recorded gains in the yield, mergers and acquisitions and convergence strategies with the options and long/short strategies recording losses. The manager comments that options portfolio recorded strong gains from Sydney Airport, Commonwealth Bank and Incitec. However significant declines in volatility and directional positioning led to losses. The decline in actual volatility to record lows has impacted but the manager expects this to return to long term averages. The fund's performance is notable for the fact that it has recorded 86.3% positive months since inception and was the only fund in our database (and perhaps globally) to record a positive return every month in 2008. Increases in volatility will contribute to fund returns. |
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Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund Performance Report
14 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund delivers 0.46% in January resulting in a total of 11.99% for the previous 12 months.
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14 Feb 2013 - Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund Performance Report
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The manager found conditions difficult as the market rallied strongly despite a weak earnings growth outlook. Portfolio long positions performed very well in the market rally. However investors tended to invest in stocks with low return on equity and this hurt the fund's short positions. The fund did look to ameliorate this impact where appropriate and in line with the manager's fundamental view. Within sectors the fund did well in Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology and lost value in Healthcare and Staples. The manager sees further domestic rate cuts, an improving growth outlook globally and an increasing allocation to equities as factors supporting the market. However the lack of earnings growth and extended valuations are a concern. |
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NAOS Long Short Equities Fund
13 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The NAOS Long Short Equity Fund delivers 21.4% during January bringing the 12 month return to 42.02%.
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13 Feb 2013 - NAOS Long Short Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund recorded a good profits from its holdings in financials, consumer discretionary, materials and Healthcare. At the company level strong contributions (either long or short) came from Pharmaxis, Ten Network, Cokal Ltd and Maverick Drilling and Exploration. The manager did not comment on losing positions over January. In terms of market performance the manager notes that small caps have not yet generated meaningful returns. Small caps have under-performed the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index by 15% over the last 12 months. Markets will look to the February reporting season to see if earnings will support valuations in the short term. |
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Apeiron Global Macro Trust - Class A
12 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Blue Sky Apeiron Global Macro Trust delivers 3.85% in January in a'risk-on' environment.
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12 Feb 2013 - Apeiron Global Macro Trust - Class A
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | The Fund lost money on it's short positions in US equity and Japanese Govt bonds. Profitable positions included long crude oil (WTI) while the short Yen position was the most profitable investment as the Yen fell sharply over January. The manager remains comfortable with the medium term outlook for the short Japanese Govt bond and Yen positions and continues to forecast difficult political and economic conditions in Europe. |
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Optimal Australia Absolute Trust
11 Feb 2013 - Australian Fund Monitors
Optimal Australia's Absolute Trust returns 0.46% in January but believes real value remains difficult to find
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11 Feb 2013 - 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 | Stocks that were at fair, or full value became expensive, and those that were already overvalued, and therefore candidates for the short book, became more so. As such Optimal finds this a considerable dilemma from a portfolio construction perspective as fundamental value investors, being reluctant to short overvalued stocks in the face of the current momentum and weight of money buying. As a result both gross and net exposure of the portfolio remain relatively low at 56% and 3% respectively. |
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