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14 Jan 2016 - Optimal Australia Absolute Trust

By: Australian Fund Monitors
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Report Date11 January 2016
ManagerOptimal Fund Management Australia
Fund NameOptimal Australia Absolute Trust
StrategyEquity Long/Short
Latest Return DateDecember 2015
Latest Return-0.10%
Latest 6 Months6.06%
Latest 12 Months8.05%
Latest 24 Months11.54%
Annualised Since Inception9.07%
Inception Date15 September 2008
FUM (millions)AU$100
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 recorded net return of -0.1% to bring the year 2015 to +8.05%. In comparison, the ASX Accumulation Index returned 2.56% for the year. Since inception, the Fund has an annualised return of 9.07% p.a. (Index 5.05% p.a.), which has been achieved with relatively low volatility of 3.65% p.a. (Index 14.55% p.a).

The Fund's shorts produced negative attribution of 0.9% for the month. The long positions had positive attribution of 0.8%. The rally in the Australian market from mid-December allowed the Fund to realise some long investments at attractive prices and to increase short position. As a result, the Fund came into 2016 with net short exposure at 11% of NAV. This risk setting has served the fund well against January's initial carnage, but our lack of beta exposure was a heavy drag on performance in December

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