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Performance Report: Laureola Australia Feeder Fund
29 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Laureola Master Fund rose +0.09% in March, taking 12-month performance to +8.57% with a volatility of 2.14%. Since inception in May 2013, the Fund has returned +15.88% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 5.56%.
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29 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Laureola Australia Feeder Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Life Settlements are resold life insurance policies and can be thought of as a form of finance extended to an individual backed by the person's life insurance policy. This financing is repaid upon maturity by collecting the death benefit from the insurance company. Risk mitigation measures implemented by Laureola include science-driven due diligence of policies, active monitoring of insured through a vertically integrated operation, and investor aligned fund design. |
| Manager Comments | The AUD hedged feeder fund was flat in March. CYTD, it has risen +0.1%. The Fund's largest drawdown since inception of -4.90% vs the Index's -19.60%, in conjunction with its down-capture (since inception) ratio of -37.45%, demonstrates its capacity to significantly outperform in falling markets and emphasises the Fund's non-correlated nature. During the month, Life Settlement markets were relatively stable with transaction prices averaging in the 12% to 14% IRR range (gross, projected IRR) and the usual wide dispersion around this average. One small policy matured and 4 polices were added to the portfolio. The portfolio now has 188 policies with an average face of $710k. 37% of the policies have a Life Expectancy of 48 months or less. Maturities have been below expectation in Q1 but Laureola expect them to pick up for the rest of 2021. Laureola noted the impact of Covid 19 on the Life Settlement markets has been twofold: 1) increased mortality and 2) decreased supply of policies. They added that there is no exact measurement of the deaths caused by Covid but most reputable estimates centre around the 10% mark - i.e. there were 10% more deaths in 2020 than expected. Laureola believe Covid's effect is likely to decline in 2021 due to better treatment and the Vaccine rollout. 25% of Americans are fully vaccinated as of 17 April, the CDC estimates that it will be 50% by June 6 and 85% by August 15. |
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Performance Report: Longlead Pan-Asian Absolute Return Fund
29 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Longlead Pan-Asian Absolute Return Fund rose +4% over the March quarter which was in line with AFM's Asia Pacific Index.
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29 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Longlead Pan-Asian Absolute Return Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Longlead noted the market backdrop was a generally favourable one for much of the quarter, with an economic recovery following the pandemic, supported by ongoing stimulus from governments globally, providing a good environment for stock picking. However, they added that the picture was far from uniform, with markets such as China and Hong Kong experiencing a material pullback from the middle of the quarter in response to concerns over domestic policy normalisation and a rotation in market leadership from growth to value names, particularly in March. Gains in the long book in the quarter were partially offset by losses in the short book. Positions in the Communications Services, Health Care and Consumer Staples sectors posted gains, while losses were experienced in Information Technology and the hedge book. By country, the Fund saw positive performance in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and negative performance in the United States and Japan. |
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Performance Report: Insync Global Capital Aware Fund
29 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Insync Global Capital Aware Fund rose +2.39% in March, taking 12-month performance to +18.64%. Since inception in October 2009, the Fund has risen +11.57% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 9.87%.
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29 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Insync Global Capital Aware Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | Insync employs four simple screens to narrow the universe of over 40,000 listed companies globally to a focus group of high quality companies that it believes have the potential to consistently grow their profits and dividends. These screens are size of the company, balance sheet performance, valuation and dividend quality. Companies that pass this due diligence process are then valued using dividend discount models, free cash flow yield and proprietary implied growth and expected return models. The end result is a high conviction portfolio of typically 15-30 stocks. The principal investments will be in shares of companies listed on international stock exchanges (including the US, Europe and Asia). The Fund may also hold cash, derivatives (for example futures, options and swaps), currency contracts, American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts. The Fund may also invest in various types of international pooled investment vehicles. At times, Insync may consider holding higher levels of cash if valuations are full and it is difficult to find attractive investment opportunities. When Insync believes markets to be overvalued, it may hold part of its resources in cash, or use derivatives as a way of reducing its equity exposure. Insync may use options, futures and other derivatives to reduce risk or gain exposure to underlying physical investments. The Fund may purchase put options on market indices or specific stocks to hedge against losses caused by declines in the prices of stocks in its portfolio. |
| Manager Comments | The portfolio's top 10 holdings at month-end included PayPal, Walt Disney, Nintendo, S&P Global, Domino's Pizza, Dollar General, Facebook, Visa, Qualcomm and Microsoft. Relative to the MSCI, the portfolio was significantly overweight IT and underweight Industrials. The 'Contactless Economy' and 'Workplace Automation' megatrends had the greatest weighting in the portfolio. Insync noted continued strong performance of cyclical stocks propelled the MSCI benchmark further ahead of the funds overall in March. They continue to see no compelling reason to alter course as this typical and short-lived phenomenon is consistent with past economic periods when coming out of a recession; overly optimistic price outcomes that result drive these types of stocks far higher than others. They point specifically to 2009/10 emerging from the GFC and 2016/17 when Trump was elected with heightened expectations of economic growth. |
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Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund
28 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Quay Global Real Estate Fund rose +1.92% in March, taking 12-month performance to +9.04%. Since inception in January 2016, the Fund has returned +7.04% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 11.68%.
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28 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund will invest in a number of global listed real estate companies, groups or funds. The investment strategy is to make investments in real estate securities at a price that will deliver a real, after inflation, total return of 5% per annum (before costs and fees), inclusive of distributions over a longer-term period. The Investment Strategy is indifferent to the constraints of any index benchmarks and is relatively concentrated in its number of investments. The Fund is expected to own between 20 and 40 securities, and from time to time up to 20% of the portfolio maybe invested in cash. The Fund is $A un-hedged. |
| Manager Comments | Winners from February were a drag in March, including Hysan (Hong Kong diversified), Scentre Group (Australian retail) and Wharf REIC (Hong Kong retail). Not quite offsetting this was Quay's exposure to US residential including Equity Residential, American Homes, and Essex. Quay noted the month was characterised as a tug-of-war between the so called 're-open trade' and 'COVID trade'. They added that while this can be interesting to watch, their focus remains on the long term cashflows and prospects of their investees. There were no changes in the Fund during the month, Quay remain positive in the Fund's outlook and they believe it is well positioned to achieve its medium-term investment target of CPI + 5%. |
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Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund
28 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Glenmore Australian Equities Fund rose +1.34% in March, taking 12-month performance to +72.43% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +37.47%. Since inception in June 2017, the Fund has risen +20.90% p.a. vs the Index's +8.68%.
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28 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Glenmore Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The main driver of identifying potential investments will be bottom up company analysis, however macro-economic conditions will be considered as part of the investment thesis for each stock. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's Sharpe and Sortino ratios (since inception), 0.92 and 1.09 respectively, by contrast with the Index's Sharpe of 0.55 and Sortino of 0.60, highlight its capacity to produce superior risk-adjusted returns while avoiding the market's downside volatility. The Fund has achieved and up-capture ratio (since inception) of 197%, indicating that, on average, it has risen almost twice as much as the market during the market's positive months. Top contributors in March included People Infrastructure, Whitehaven Coal, Moelis Australia, Fiducian Group, Collins Foods and Eagers Automotive. Key detractors included Coronado Global Resources and Alliance Aviation Services. Glenmore noted that, overall, they are very positive on the prospects for equities generally and the portfolio's holdings more specifically. They added that the recent reporting season highlighted a number of interesting stocks across a range of sectors and with a positive backdrop (recovering global growth, low interest rates, increased rollout of the vaccine). Their outlook on the next 12-18 months remains positive. |
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Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction Strategy
28 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Delft Global High Conviction Strategy rose +9.22% in March, outperforming AFM's Global Equity Index by +5.06 and taking 12-month performance to +28.75% vs the Index's +24.91%. Since inception in August 2011, the Strategy has returned...
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28 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction Strategy
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The quantitative model is proprietary and designed in-house. The critical elements are Valuation, Momentum, and Quality (VMQ) and every stock in the global universe is scored and ranked. Verification of the quant model scores is then cross checked by fundamental analysis in which a company's Accounting policies, Governance, and Strategic positioning is evaluated. The manager believes strategy is suited to investors seeking returns from investing in global companies, diversification away from Australia and a risk aware approach to global investing. It should be noted that this is a strategy in an IMA format and is not offered as a fund. An IMA solution can be a more cost and tax effective solution, for clients who wish to own fewer stocks in a long only strategy. |
| Manager Comments | Over the quarter, the Strategy rose +17.71% against the Index's +5.90%. Notable performers included KLA, a US metrology equipment manufacturer, Valero, the USA based oil refining company, and Intel. Most Japanese companies in the portfolio marched higher. They took profits from Discovery A, Hong Kong Exchanges, Orix Holdings and Nomura Holdings. Delft noted that while world markets rose over that period, there has been a significant shift in the shape of the US yield curve which has driven significant sectoral rotation globally. Delft anticipated this and remain focussed on companies exposed to industrial activity, productivity enhancing investment and the switch to fiscal policy. Delft added that National Industrial Policy is returning and expect companies and investors will have to adapt to the new supply chains, different regulations and taxation. Delft remain very diversified with underweight positions in European banks and oils generally. They have overweight positions in 'true technology' companies, Industrials and Healthcare. They like Japan and Asia on valuation, fiscal resilience and improving governance. Their view is that the outlook remains poor for European profits notwithstanding the 'cheap' market. |
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Performance Report: Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
28 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund rose +0.83% in March, taking 12-month performance to +50.92% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +37.47%. Since inception in February 2009, the Fund has returned +16.65% p.a. vs the Index's +10.16%.
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28 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Bennelong Concentrated Australian Equities Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The overriding objective of the Concentrated Australian Equities Fund is to seek investment opportunities which are under-appreciated and have the potential to deliver positive earnings, while satisfying our stringent quality criteria. Bennelong's investment process combines bottom-up fundamental analysis together with proprietary investment tools which are used to build and maintain high quality portfolios that are risk aware. The portfolio typically consists of 20-35 high-conviction stocks from the S&P/ASX 300 Index. The Fund may invest in securities listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities. Derivative instruments are mainly used to replicate underlying positions and hedge market and company specific risks. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's up-capture and down-capture ratios (since inception), 149% and 92% respectively, indicate that, on average, the Fund has outperformed significantly during the market's positive months while not falling further than the market during the market's negative months. As at the end of March, the portfolio's weightings had been increased in the Health Care, Communication, Materials section, and decreased in the Discretionary, IT, Industrials and Financials sectors. Relative to the ASX300, the Fund was significantly overweight the Discretionary sector (Fund weight: 43.7%, benchmark weight: 8.0%) and underweight the Financials sector (Fund weight: 6.6%, benchmark weight: 29.3%). |
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Performance Report: Premium Asia Fund
27 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Premium Asia Fund has risen +43.06% against AFM's Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index's +27.05%. Since inception in December 2009, the Fund has returned +12.77% p.a. vs the Index's +6.70%.
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27 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Premium Asia Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund is managed by Value Partners using a disciplined value-oriented approach supported by intensive, on-the-ground bottom-up fundamental research resulting in a portfolio of individual holdings, which are, in the view of Value Partners, undervalued and of high quality, on either an absolute or relative basis, and which have the potential for capital appreciation. The Fund will primarily have exposure to the equity securities of entities listed on securities exchanges across the Asia (ex-Japan) region, however, the Fund may also gain exposure to entities listed on securities outside the Asia (ex-Japan) region which have significant assets, investments, production activities, trading or other business interests in the Asia (ex-Japan) region as well as unlisted instruments with equity-like characteristics, such as participatory notes and convertible bonds. The Fund may also invest in cash and money market instruments, depositary receipts, listed unit trusts, shares in mutual fund corporations and other collective investment schemes (including real estate investment trusts), derivatives including both exchange-traded and OTC, convertible securities, participatory notes, bonds, and foreign exchange contracts. |
| Manager Comments | Under high demand for electronic components, the Fund's South Korean and Taiwanese hardware manufacturers holdings continued to rally. Premium China noted the global recovery lends upside to demand, benefitting the materials sector. This includes the Fund's chemical manufacturer holding in South Korea. As the pandemic impacts lessened and recovery kicked in, they have been building more positions in Korean equities since the beginning of the year. They remain constructive on the global recovery outlook and continue to favour the market as the earnings upcycle continues. Overall growth in North Asia has higher visibility underpinned by the resilient macro backdrop. Thus, they maintain their overweight in the sub-region over ASEAN. Looking forward, their conviction on Asian equities remains unchanged. They expect fundamentals to stay robust amid the on-going recovery in the region. The change in the inflation environment is being assessed in their bottom-up stock picking process. They remain focused on quality companies that showcase high visibility and sustained earnings growth. |
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Performance Report: Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund
27 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund has risen +8.08% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 10.16% since inception in June 2013. Over that period, it has had a maximum drawdown of -7.26% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's -26.75%...
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27 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The primary objective of the Atlantic Pacific Australian Equity Fund is to generate a mixture of capital and income returns for investors with a high risk profile, over a 5 to 7 year investment period. The Investment Manager believes that markets are fundamentally inefficient and that active investment management will result in higher than 'benchmark' returns. The Fund has adopted the S&P/ASX200 Accumulation Index as the benchmark for its performance. The Investment Manager also believes that, on review of many markets globally, no individual style or method of investing will always ensure outperformance in terms of return on investment. In light of this, the Investment Manager may adopt a 'value', 'growth' or 'momentum' style bias, for example, depending on where the market is in its investment cycle. Further, the Investment Manager believes that actual and forecasted events underpin absolute and relative price movements of securities. The Investment Manager will utilise a number of frameworks to assist in positioning the Fund's portfolio of investments. These include fundamental research, quantitative analysis, and macro and catalyst research. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund returned -3.78% in March. Top contributors included Computershare (long), Sonic Healthcare (long), Telstra (long), and Whitehaven Coal (long). Key detractors included Mesoblast (long), Norwood Systems (long), SPI Futures (long), and Terracom (long). APSEC noted valuation remain elevated and believe this should be considered in light of the rising bond environment. They emphasise that they don't see the Fund's strategy as a 'market mirror' as was witnessed last year, instead they see it as a satellite portfolio to smooth out returns over the long-run. They have seen drawdowns like this in the past and expect to iron them out over the coming year. |
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Performance Report: The Airlie Australian Share Fund
27 Apr 2021 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Airlie Australian Share Fund rose +3.90% in March outperforming the ASX 200 Total Return Index by +1.46%. This took 12-month performance to +43.56% vs the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +37.47%.
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27 Apr 2021 - Performance Report: The Airlie Australian Share Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The Fund is long-only with a bottom-up focus. It has a concentrated portfolio of 15-35 stocks (target 25). Maximum cash holding of 10% with an aim to be fully invested. Airlie employs a prudent investment approach that identifies companies based on their financial strength, attractive durable business characteristics and the quality of their management teams. Airlie invests in these companies when their view of their fair value exceeds the prevailing market price. It is jointly managed by Matt Williams and Emma Fisher. Matt has over 25 years' investment experience and formerly held the role of Head of Equities and Portfolio Manager at Perpetual Investments. Emma has over 8 years' investment experience and has previously worked as an investment analyst within the Australian equities team at Fidelity International and, prior to that, at Nomura Securities. |
| Manager Comments | The Fund's 12-month up-capture and down-capture ratios, 114% and 93% respectively, indicate that, on average, it has outperformed during the market's positive and negative months. The Fund has maintained an up-capture ratio of above 100% over all time periods, highlighting its capacity to outperform in positive markets. At month-end, the portfolio's top positions included Commonwealth Bank of Australia, BHP Group, CSL, National Australia Bank and Wesfarmers. By sector, the portfolio was most heavily weighted towards the Financials, Consumer Discretionary and Materials sectors. |
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