NEWS
Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity Fund
3 Aug 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Insync Global Quality Equity Fund rose +11.76% over the quarter, outperforming AFM's Global Equity Index by +5.79% and taking 12-month performance to +14.45% against the Index's +3.94%. Since inception the Fund has returned +13.59%...
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3 Aug 2020 - Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity 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 typically of 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. |
| Manager Comments | Insync noted the key to the Fund's outperformance over FY20 has been its downside risk management as well as the selection of stocks with long growth runways that aren't closely linked to prevailing economic conditions. Insync maintains a positive view for the medium to long-term. Their view is that very low interest rates are making quality sustainable growth companies extremely valuable. They also believe the Megatrends in which they invest are likely to resist a severe recession and a pandemic. At month-end, the portfolio's top holdings included PayPal, Visa, Microsoft, Adobe, JD Sports Fashion, Walt Disney, Accenture, Facebook, S&P Global and Domino's Pizza. The top three Megatrends in the portfolio by weight were the 'Age Related Health Solutions' and 'Digitisation' megatrends (both at 14% of the portfolio), followed by the 'Cashless Society' megatrend (13% of the portfolio). |
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Hedge Clippings | 31 July 2020
31 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
In this edition of Hedge Clippings we share our views on the rapid rise in the number of COVID cases in Victoria recently and its potential impacts on the country as whole, both short and long-term.
News and insights content...
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31 Jul 2020 - Hedge Clippings | 31 July 2020
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
31 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Touchstone Index Unaware Fund rose +0.98% in June, taking quarterly performance to +16.50%. Since inception in April 2016, the Fund has returned +6.21% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 16.03%.
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31 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The portfolio is constructed using Touchstone's Quality-At-a-Reasonable-Price ('QARP') investment process. QARP is a fundamental bottom-up process, however, it also incorporates a top-down risk management framework designed to successfully manage the portfolio during varying market conditions and economic cycles. The Touchstone Fund is concentrated, typically holding between 15-20 stocks. No individual stock will ever make up more than 10% of the portfolio at any one time. The Investment Manager may temporarily exceed the exposure limits of the Fund occasionally, particularly during periods of market volatility, to allow for holdings in excess of this 10% limit where the increase in value of the underlying security is due to market movement. The Fund may also hold between 0-50% of the portfolio in cash. The Fund has a high level of associated risk, therefore, the minimum suggested investment time-frame is 5 years. |
| Manager Comments | At month-end, the Fund held 21 stocks with a median position size of 4.8%. The portfolio's holdings had an average forward year price/earnings of 21.2, forward-year tangible ROE of 10.2% and forward-year dividend yield of 2.7%. The Fund ended the month with a cash weighting of 5.1%, down from 10.5% as at the end of May. |
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Performance Report: Laureola Investment Fund
31 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Laureola Investment Fund returned +0.69% in June, taking performance over FY20 to +9.55% and performance since inception in May 2013 to +16.74% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 5.75%. The largest drawdown the Fund has experience...
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31 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Laureola Investment Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment strategy of The Laureola Investment Fund is dynamic and flexible, designed to take advantage of the frequent but temporary pricing anomalies of an asset class that is not yet fully understood by the majority of participants. Laureola Advisors applies 'best practices' common in the management of traditional assets, particularly the use of independent, in-house, proprietary research. |
| Manager Comments | Performance in June was driven by the maturities of 4 mid-sized life settlement policies with a combined face value of $1.5ml. The portfolio now holds 175 policies and is well diversified by all measures. 25% of policies are on insureds 80 years old or older, while the median Life Expectancy is only 49 months and 14% of the portfolio has Life Expectancies of 24 months or less. The largest number of insureds are in Florida and Texas, with Georgia and North Carolina also in the top 6. Laureola believe that in an unstable and uncertain world where governments try to control stock markets and yield curvs in the midst of pandemics, the self-generated returns and genuine non-correlation of Life Settlements are increasingly attractive. |
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Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction
31 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Delft Global High Conviction Strategy rose +0.49% over the June quarter and as returned +14.46% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 11.81% since inception in August 2011. By contrast, AFM's Global Equity Index has returned +13.32%...
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31 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Delft Partners Global High Conviction
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 | Delft noted their philosophy of not timing market exposure has helped them capture much of the market's recent rebound. They remain diversified with underweight positions in banks and oils, and overweight positions in 'true technology' companies such as KLA Tencor. Delft have a positive view of Japan and Asia which performed strongly in the market's rebound. During the quarter Delft sold Cisco and reinvested in Ciena Corp in the USA. They also sold Celanese Corp and reinvested in Bristol Myers. Notable price changes came from Hong Kong Exchange, KLA Tencor and General Mills. The Strategy remains unhedged for AUD$ based investors. |
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Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Unhedged
31 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Ark Global Fund (unhedged) rose +4.41% with a down-capture ratio of -53.38% over FY20. The negative down-capture ratio indicates that, on average, the Fund rose during the market's negative months. Since inception in July 2017, the...
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31 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Unhedged
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment objective of the Fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation with low correlation to global equity markets through investment in the Underlying Fund. Fund One is a global macro fund that utilises quantitative research including machine learning techniques and fully automated trading algorithms which will aim to generate positive uncorrelated returns relative to any significant equity benchmark. The traded instruments are either major FX pairs or the most liquid exchange traded stock index, bond, and commodity futures across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The algorithm backtests over 10 years of tick data and in order to do so effectively requires machine learning to filter noise and identify meaningful signals, which results in statistically significant prediction of price movements. In production this processing is done in real time and the portfolio reacts to asset movements by rebalancing automatically to the desired risk exposure through the market impact optimised execution logic. Risk management layers built into the algorithm have been developed using the experience the team has gained from their decades in highly liquid fast-moving markets in the proprietary High Frequency Trading world. This allows the system to trade autonomously but safely to all trading opportunities and potential system issues, and to alert the team to any behaviour outside of strictly controlled bounds. The Fund is a 'feeder fund' which indirectly gains exposure to the underlying assets by investing all or substantially all of its assets in the Underlying Fund. The Fund may retain a certain amount of cash from the investment in the Fund for the purpose of payment of costs, fees, hedging and expenses. |
| Manager Comments | The best performing assets for the month were: Gold (+1.49% of NAV), Nikkey 225 (+1.39% of NAV) and SMI Index (+0.81% of NAV). The worst performing assets for the month were: AUD/USD (-0.66% of NAV), USD/CAD (-0.84% of NAV) and Euro Stoxx (-1.63% of NAV). |
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Performance Report: Loftus Peak Global Disruption Fund
30 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Loftus Peak Global Disruption Fund rose +2.65% in June, taking performance over FY20 to +27.67% versus AFM's Global Equity Index's +3.94%. Since inception in November 2016, the Fund has returned +23.47% p.a. against the Index's...
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30 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Loftus Peak Global Disruption Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment process involves a combination of top-down analysis with fundamental bottom-up qualitative and quantitative research to derive a risk-adjusted discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation of companies in the target universe. The investment team will generally buy stocks from the pool of securities that are trading below Loftus Peaks' valuation and sell them when they are trading above Loftus Peak's valuation. The approach allows for both fundamental accounting information as well as market-oriented inputs to be factored into the portfolio construction process. Loftus Peak's model typically does not rely on leverage to deliver investment returns and specifically takes into account risk in the valuation process. Capital preservation can be managed by holding up to 50% cash. Index and currency options and futures may also be used to manage risk. |
| Manager Comments | The June return was driven by solid contributions from Qualcomm, Apple and Tencent. Key detractors included Nutanix, Arista and Alphabet. The Australian dollar appreciated +3.7% over the month against the US dollar which meant the value of the Fund's US dollar positions decreased. As at 30 June 2020, the Fund carried a foreign currency exposure of 98%. At month-end, the Fund was 77.8% invested in 24 holdings with the balance in cash. |
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Performance Report: Australian Eagle Trust Long-Short Fund
30 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Australian Eagle Trust Long-Short Fund rose +3.35% in June, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +0.74% and taking quarterly performance to +23.11% against the Index's +16.48%. Since inception in July 2016, the Fund has...
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30 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Australian Eagle Trust Long-Short Fund
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Manager Comments | Top contributors in June came from long positions in ResMed Inc, Oz Minerals Ltd and Pushpay Holdings Ltd, while the largest detractors included a long position in Altium Ltd and short positions in Bank of Queensland Ltd and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd. The Fund ended the month with 31 long positions and 25 short positions, with the largest exposure being to medical devices & services and technology stocks. The Fund ended the month with relatively less exposure to banking and real estate stocks. |
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Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Hedged
30 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Ark Global Fund (hedged) returned +0.90% in June, taking performance since inception in July 2017 to +7.73% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 9.44%. Over the past 12 months, the Fund has achieved a down-capture ratio of -27.93%...
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30 Jul 2020 - Performance Report: Ark Global Fund - Class B AUD Hedged
By: Australian Fund Monitors
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| Fund Overview | The investment objective of the Fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation with low correlation to global equity markets through investment in the Underlying Fund. Fund One is a global macro fund that utilises quantitative research including machine learning techniques and fully automated trading algorithms which will aim to generate positive uncorrelated returns relative to any significant equity benchmark. The traded instruments are either major FX pairs or the most liquid exchange traded stock index, bond, and commodity futures across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The algorithm backtests over 10 years of tick data and in order to do so effectively requires machine learning to filter noise and identify meaningful signals, which results in statistically significant prediction of price movements. In production this processing is done in real time and the portfolio reacts to asset movements by rebalancing automatically to the desired risk exposure through the market impact optimised execution logic. Risk management layers built into the algorithm have been developed using the experience the team has gained from their decades in highly liquid fast-moving markets in the proprietary High Frequency Trading world. This allows the system to trade autonomously but safely to all trading opportunities and potential system issues, and to alert the team to any behaviour outside of strictly controlled bounds. The Fund is a 'feeder fund' which indirectly gains exposure to the underlying assets by investing all or substantially all of its assets in the Underlying Fund. The Fund may retain a certain amount of cash from the investment in the Fund for the purpose of payment of costs, fees, hedging and expenses. |
| Manager Comments | The best performing assets for the month were: Gold (+1.49% of NAV), Nikkey 225 (+1.39% of NAV) and SMI Index (+0.81% of NAV). The worst performing assets for the month were: AUD/USD (-0.66% of NAV), USD/CAD (-0.84% of NAV) and Euro Stoxx (-1.63% of NAV). |
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Performance Report: Quay Global Real Estate Fund
30 Jul 2020 - Australian Fund Monitors
The Quay Global Real Estate Fund returned -0.6% in June, with the underlying stocks returning +2.7% overall before the impact of currency (-3.3%). Since inception in January 2016, the Fund has returned +5.52% p.a. with an annualised return...
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30 Jul 2020 - 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 | Quay emphasise that short-term currency movements can act as either a tailwind or a headwind to performance. However, over time these currency movements become less relevant than the underlying operational performance of the investees. For the quarter, top contributors included STAG (US Industrial), Ventas (US Health) and Shurgard (European Storage). The largest detractors included Hysan (Hong Kong Diversified), Cubesmart (US Storage) and US cash. As at the end of June, the portfolio had relatively low cash (4%) and was invested across 27 companies. Quay noted the cash level is around the lowest in the Fund's history and the number of investees the equal highest. This reflects Quay's view of the attractive valuations currently on offer across their investment universe. |
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