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15 Nov 2013 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors
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Report Date14 November 2013
ManagerOptimal Fund Management Australia
Fund NameOptimal Australia Absolute Trust
StrategyEquity Long/Short
Latest Return DateOctober 2013
Latest Return0.32%
Latest 6 Months2.30%
Latest 12 Months2.73%
Latest 24 Months7.72%
Annualised Since Inception10.74%
Inception Date15 September 2008
FUM (millions)AU$154
Fund OverviewThe investment objective of the Fund is to seek to achieve above average returns in absolute terms, through investing in listed securities in Australia and New Zealand, subject to the overarching requirement of capital preservation. Investments will predominantly be in equity securities but may include fixed interest instruments, money market instruments, derivatives and foreign exchange contracts.

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 CommentsOptimal Australia Absolute Trust returned 0.32% for October 2013 bringing its five year performance to 10.84% p.a. (11.08% pa ASX 200 Acc Index) with a volatility of only 3.66% (13.57% Index). Notably the Fund's maximum draw-down since inception in September 2008 is 1.38% as compared to the Index maximum draw-down of 33.11%, indicating the Manager's strong aversion to capital losses.

The Manager comments 'In our view, a lot of the easy money in equities has been made. Those investors who backed central banks to either print money forever, or to eventually create decent economic growth, have done very well, and continued to do well in October.

From here, however, it gets harder. Financial repression has driven equity valuations to levels that require a sharp acceleration in growth for stock prices to hold, and there are still many questions over the degree and sustainability of that acceleration. We believe that we are reaching a point at which the market has to make up its mind as to whether or not QE policies may finally work. While resources stocks have finally stopped falling, the compound under-performance of this group over three years certainly suggests that investors remain skeptical on growth.'
More Information» View detailed profile of this fund

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