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12 Sep 2018 - Performance Report: Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors
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Report Date12 September 2018
ManagerBennelong Long Short Equity Management, a Bennelong boutique
Fund NameBennelong Long Short Equity Fund
StrategyEquity Market Neutral
Latest Return DateAugust 2018
Latest Return10.59%
Latest 6 Months14.85%
Latest 12 Months28.96%
Latest 24 Months29.09%
Annualised Since Inception16.77%
Inception Date01 January 2003
FUM (millions)AU$466.2
Fund OverviewBennelong Long Short Equity Management applies a qualitative stock selection process to construct a diversified portfolio of paired securities based on relative value. The Bennelong Long Short Equity Management strategy invests primarily in the S&P/ASX 100 and is dollar neutral at cost.

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.

The Bennelong Market Neutral Fund, with same strategy and liquidity is available for retail investors as a Listed Investment Company (LIC) on the ASX.
Manager Comments

The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund returned a record +10.59% in August, the Fund's best month since inception in January 2003. The Fund has returned +28.97% over the past 12 months with an up-capture ratio of +103.97% and a down-capture ratio of -149.86% (a negative down-capture ratio indicates that the Fund, on average, has risen during the market's negative months). Since inception, the Fund has returned +16.77% p.a. versus the Index's +8.32%.

Both the long and short books made positive contributions in August, which reflected Bennelong's experience during company reporting season in which they enjoyed a strong hit rate in terms of hits and misses vs market expectations. Top performing pairs included long TPG Telecom / short Telstra, long ALS Limited / short Aurizon, long Bluescope Steel / short Sims Metal. The only notable detracting pair was long Origin Energy / short AGL Energy.

In their latest report, Bennelong provide an overview the Fund's returns and their correlation to the share market. They show that, over 12 months, the Fund has been positive in 69.7% of the market's positive months, positive in 22.9% of the market's negative months and negative in 0% of the market's negative months. This highlights the Fund's capacity to achieve strong positive returns regardless of the market's direction. Read the latest report for more.

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