Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund

22 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Touchstone Index Unaware Fund returned +3.61% in July, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +0.67% and taking annualised performance since inception in April 2016 to +12.32%.

22 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	22 August 2019
Manager	Touchstone Asset Management, a Bennelong boutique
Fund Name	Touchstone Index Unaware Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	July 2019
Latest Return	3.61%
Latest 6 Months	15.77%
Latest 12 Months	9.93%
Latest 24 Months (pa)	11.69%
Annualised Since Inception	12.32%
Inception Date	04 April 2016
FUM (millions)	AU$4.63
Fund Overview	The Fund aims to deliver capital growth and a sustainable income stream to its investors by investing in a portfolio of primarily listed Australian shares and cash, aiming to provide a total return that exceeds the return of the S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index by 2% p.a. (before fees and expenses) over a rolling 5 year period. 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	The Touchstone Index Unaware Fund returned +3.61% in July, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +0.67% and taking annualised performance since inception in April 2016 to +12.32%. The Fund's Sharpe and Sortino ratios for performance since inception are 1.08 and 1.74 respectively. As at the end of July, the Fund held 22 stocks with a median position size of 4.5%. The portfolio's holdings had an average forward year price/earnings of 16.7, forward year EPS growth of 4.8%, forward year tangible ROE of 22.6% and forward year dividend yield of 4.2%. The Fund's cash weighting was increased to 5.1% from 3.0% as at the end of June. The Fund primarily seeks to select stocks from the ASX300 Index, typically holding between 10-30 stocks. The Fund seeks to invest in reasonably priced, good quality companies with a significant share of expected returns coming from sustainable dividends.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund

21 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The NWQ Fiduciary Fund rose +3.21% in July, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +0.27% and taking annualised performance since inception in May 2013 to +5.52% with an annualised volatility of 4.91%.

21 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	21 August 2019
Manager	NWQ Capital Management Pty Ltd
Fund Name	NWQ Fiduciary Fund
Strategy	Multi Strategy
Latest Return Date	July 2019
Latest Return	3.21%
Latest 6 Months	3.72%
Latest 12 Months	-1.79%
Latest 24 Months (pa)	5.00%
Annualised Since Inception	5.52%
Inception Date	01 May 2013
FUM (millions)	AU$67
Fund Overview	The NWQ Fiduciary Fund (Fund), managed by NWQ Capital Management, is a diversified multi-manager portfolio, modelled on NWQ's Fiduciary Model Portfolio. The principal investment objective of the Fund is to produce attractive positive returns irrespective of market direction. This is achieved through active allocations to selective fund managers that employ a variety of traditional and absolute return strategies. The Fund places emphasis on managers who demonstrate a rigorous and repeatable investment process that has delivered a strong track record. The Fund aims to produce returns, after management fees and expenses of between 8% to 11% p.a. over rolling five-year periods. Furthermore, the Fund aims to achieve these returns with volatility that is a fraction of the Australian equity market, in order to smooth returns for investors.
Manager Comments	The NWQ Fiduciary Fund rose +3.21% in July, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index by +0.27% and taking annualised performance since inception in May 2013 to +5.52% with an annualised volatility of 4.91%. By contrast, the ASX200 Accumulation Index has returned +9.10% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 10.89% over the same period. The Fund's Sortino ratio of 1.23 versus the Index's 0.97, average negative return of -0.90% versus the Index's -2.52% and down-capture ratio of 6.79% highlight the Fund's capacity to avoid the market's downside over the long term. The Fund's performance in July was disproportionately driven by the Alpha managers (+2.73%), with the Beta managers also making a positive contribution (+0.56%). This was the Fund's largest monthly gain since July 2015 and the second largest since its inception in May 2013. NWQ's view is that the current global environment presents investors with a mosaic of risks. These range from the continuing and escalating disagreement between the US and China on trade, ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, the deceleration and likely recession in continental Europe, and the fissures opening up in emerging markets such as Argentina. They believe recent volatility is likely to continue and could become more pronounced given that fundamentals continue to deteriorate with falling earnings coupled with a fragile global macro environment.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Wheelhouse Global Equity Income Fund

21 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Wheelhouse Global Equities Income Fund returned +2.17% in July, taking annualised performance since inception in May 2017 to +9.01% with an annualised volatility of 7.63%.

21 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Wheelhouse Global Equity Income Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	21 August 2019
Manager	Wheelhouse Investment Partners, a Bennelong boutique
Fund Name	Wheelhouse Global Equity Income Fund
Strategy	Equity Income
Latest Return Date	July 2019
Latest Return	2.17%
Latest 6 Months	10.86%
Latest 12 Months	9.49%
Latest 24 Months (pa)	12.90%
Annualised Since Inception	9.01%
Inception Date	26 May 2017
FUM (millions)	AU$10.82
Fund Overview	The strategy of the Fund is based on the Morningstar Developed Markets ex Australia Wide Moat Focus Index ('Morningstar Portfolio'). However, in addition to this, it is designed to deliver returns with lower volatility, improved capital preservation, and higher income generation as a component of total return. To pursue this objective, the Investment Manager is responsible for actively managing, monitoring and tailoring the integration of derivative contracts alongside the Morningstar Portfolio, while taking into account changing market and stock specific conditions. The Investment Manager is responsible for maximising the structural benefits of short option positions (lowered Volatility, improved capital preservation, higher income generation), whilst mitigating, minimising and monitoring the structural negatives (variable market exposure, option expiries, collateral management and asymmetric return profiles). In addition, long derivatives positions are also used to enhance the capital preservation characteristics of the Fund in more extreme market movements. As a consequence of the integration of Derivatives, returns of the strategy, intra-cycle, are expected to vary from the underlying Morningstar Portfolio due to these characteristics. For example in weak markets, or in extended sideways markets, the Fund is expected to outperform relative to the Morningstar Portfolio. Conversely in strong positive markets the Fund is expected to underperform.
Manager Comments	The Wheelhouse Global Equities Income Fund returned +2.17% in July, taking annualised performance since inception in May 2017 to +9.01% with an annualised volatility of 7.63%. The July return comprised +0.35% from the portfolio (in USD) and a positive return of +1.82% from the weakening of the Australian dollar versus the US dollar. Top contributors included KLA-Tencor, Zimmer Biomet, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Union Pacific and Western Union. Detractors included Enbridge, Pfizer, Cheniere Energy, Kao Corp and Roche. The Fund is designed to deliver equity returns with higher income generation and active downside protection. The strategy's high income generation and active tail risk program are designed to lower risk and deliver equity returns with a smoother, more retiree-friendly return profile. As a result, Wheelhouse intend for returns to add relative value in weak and low-growth markets and to drag in more positive markets. The Fund's up-capture and down-capture ratios since inception, 56.11% and 57.83% respectively, demonstrate that the Fund has been successful in achieving its investment objective.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund

20 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund rose +2.72% in July, taking annualised performance since inception in November 2009 to +10.55% versus the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +8.66% per annum.

20 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	20 August 2019
Manager	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP), a Bennelong boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	July 2019
Latest Return	2.75%
Latest 6 Months	17.04%
Latest 12 Months	6.37%
Latest 24 Months (pa)	12.83%
Annualised Since Inception	10.55%
Inception Date	02 December 2015
FUM (millions)	AU$6.62
Fund Overview	The Fund aims to outperform the return of the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index by 2% per annum after fees on a rolling three-year basis by combining indexed positions in the S&P/ASX 20 stocks with an actively managed exposure in primarily Australian stocks that are outside the S&P/ASX 20. The Fund is managed as one portfolio but comprises and combines two separately managed exposures: 1. An investment in the top 20 stocks of the markets, which the Fund achieves by taking an indexed position in the S&P/ASX 20 Index; and 2. An investment in the stocks beyond the S&P/ASX 20 Index. This exposure is managed on an active basis using a fundamental core approach. The Fund may also invest in securities expected to be listed on the ASX, securities listed or expected to be listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to ASX-listed securities.Derivative instruments may be used to replicate underlying positions and hedge market and company specific risks. The companies within the portfolio are primarily selected from, but not limited to, the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index. The Fund typically holds between 40-55 stocks and thus is considered to be highly concentrated. This means that investors should expect to see high short-term volatility. The Fund seeks to achieve growth over the long-term, therefore the minimum suggested investment timeframe is 5 years.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund rose +2.72% in July, taking annualised performance since inception in November 2009 to +10.55% versus the ASX200 Accumulation Index's +8.66% per annum. The Fund's up-capture and down-capture ratios since inception, 106.94% and 95.21% respectively, indicate that the Fund has outperformed in both rising and falling markets on average. As at the end of July, the Fund's weightings had been increased in the Discretionary, Health Care and Communication sectors, and decreased in the REITs, Consumer Staples, Industrials, Energy, Financials and Materials sectors. The Fund's top 10 holdings included CBA, BHP Billiton, CSL, Goodman, Westpac Banking, Aristocrat Leisure, ANZ and NAB.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report AFM Research Reports

Advantage Advantest? Or why are Japanese technology companies so overlooked?

20 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

This article was prompted by the announcement recently that Verizon was selling Tumblr for a few million $. Tumblr is/was a social networking site that allowed users to blog personal stuff to each other. A couple of years ago Tumblr was...

Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund

19 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund rose +3.11% in July, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index and taking annualised performance since inception in January 2009 to +13.83% versus the Index's +11.26%.

19 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	19 August 2019
Manager	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP), a Bennelong boutique
Fund Name	Bennelong Australian Equities Fund
Strategy	Equity Long
Latest Return Date	July 2019
Latest Return	3.20%
Latest 6 Months	16.45%
Latest 12 Months	4.83%
Latest 24 Months (pa)	16.44%
Annualised Since Inception	13.83%
Inception Date	30 January 2009
FUM (millions)	AU$535.06
Fund Overview	Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP) is a boutique asset manager offering Australian equities solutions for institutional and retail clients. The business was founded in 2008 by Paul Cuddy and Mark East, in partnership with Bennelong Funds Management. Prior to establishing BAEP, Paul and Mark were Co-Heads of Australian Equities at ING Investment Management. The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund seeks quality investment opportunities which are under-appreciated and have the potential to deliver positive earnings. The investment process combines bottom-up fundamental analysis with proprietary investment tools that are used to build and maintain high quality portfolios that are risk aware. The investment team manages an extensive company/industry contact program which helps identify and verify various investment opportunities. The companies within the portfolio are primarily selected from, but not limited to, the S&P/ASX 300 Index. The Fund may invest in securities listed on other exchanges where such securities relate to the ASX-listed securities. The Fund typically holds between 25-60 stocks with a maximum net targeted position of an individual stock of 6%.
Manager Comments	The Bennelong Australian Equities Fund rose +3.11% in July, outperforming the ASX200 Accumulation Index and taking annualised performance since inception in January 2009 to +13.83% versus the Index's +11.26%. The Fund's up-capture and down-capture ratios since inception indicate that, on average, the Fund has outperformed in both rising and falling markets. As at the end of July, the Fund's weightings had been increased in the following sectors: Health Care, IT, Communication and Materials. Portfolio weightings had been decreased in the following sectors: Discretionary, REITs, Consumer Staples, Industrials and Financials. The Fund's top three holdings are CSL, BHP Billiton and Aristocrat Leisure. The Fund aims to invest in high quality companies with strong growth and outlooks and underestimated earnings momentum. The Fund's portfolio characteristics, as detailed in the latest report, indicate that the Fund is in line with the manager's investment objective.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Performance Report: Harvest Lane Asset Management Absolute Return Fund

19 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The Harvest Lane Absolute Return Fund returned +1.23% in July. Since inception in July 2013, the Fund has returned +8.50% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 6.92%.

19 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Harvest Lane Asset Management Absolute Return Fund

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Report Date	19 August 2019
Manager	Harvest Lane Asset Management
Fund Name	Harvest Lane Asset Management Absolute Return Fund
Strategy	Equity Market Neutral
Latest Return Date	July 2019
Latest Return	1.23%
Latest 6 Months	0.94%
Latest 12 Months	5.23%
Latest 24 Months (pa)	10.51%
Annualised Since Inception	8.50%
Inception Date	01 July 2013
FUM (millions)	AU$13.1
Fund Overview	The Fund aims to deliver a return of greater than 10% p.a. after all fees and charges over a 3 year period with low or no correlation to the Australian equity market. By focusing on select takeover and corporate activity the fund aims to achieve this whilst also exhibiting lower than average volatility than the market. Harvest Lane Asset Management employs a conservative, highly selective and opportunistic approach. Using their extensive knowledge in the area of corporate actions, the Fund's managers assess each opportunity based on a thoughtful, diligent and disciplined process and invest where they believe an opportunity exists to generate above average investment returns relative to the risk incurred. Investment decisions are made without speculating on market direction, with rigid risk controls enforced to minimise the risk of large losses of investor capital. The Fund invests in securities that are predominantly listed on the ASX and occasionally in those listed in other developed markets. Equity swaps and other derivatives may be used at times to reduce risk. The fund typically holds high levels of cash in the absence of sufficiently attractive opportunities to deploy investor capital in accordance with its objectives.
Manager Comments	The Harvest Lane Absolute Return Fund returned +1.23% in July. Since inception in July 2013, the Fund has returned +8.50% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 6.92%. By contrast, the ASX200 Accumulation Index has returned +10.62% p.a. with an annualised volatility of 10.75% over the same period. The Fund's Sortino ratio of 1.60 versus the Index's 1.21, average negative return of -1.45% versus the Index's -2.45% and down-capture ratio of -35.58% highlight the Fund's focus on avoiding the market's negative months. Harvest Lane noted there were some meaningful individual contributors and interesting corporate activity during the month, much of which they believe highlights the latent potential currently residing in the portfolio. They added that deal flow is showing no sign of slowing down with the latter half of July seeing several prospective opportunities announced, allowing Harvest Lane to invest in new opportunities and reinvest the proceeds of completed transactions.
More Information	Fund Profile Manager's Report

Hedge Clippings | 16 August 2019

16 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

Turmoil in equity markets as bond yields invert, triggering recession fears. Turmoil on the streets of Hong Kong as protesters up their anti-mainland push. Turmoil amongst sections of the financial sector as AMP turns the screws on advisors.

16 Aug 2019 - Hedge Clippings | 16 August 2019

By: Australian Fund Monitors

Hedge Clippings | Friday 16 August, 2019

Turmoil takes hold!

Turmoil in equity markets as bond yields invert, triggering recession fears. Turmoil on the streets of Hong Kong as protesters up their anti-mainland push. Turmoil amongst sections of the financial sector as AMP turns the screws on advisors.

Let's take the inverted bond yield and the potential for a recession first:

Inversion in bond markets has preceded the last nine US recessions, hence the panic on equity markets. However, it's not a failsafe indicator, as shown in 1966 and again in 1998. On this occasion there are other forces at play - both for and against - which may confirm or deny the norm. We're in an unprecedented environment of ultra-low and, in many parts of the world, negative interest rates, hence it's no wonder that 10 year bond rates are so low. On the other hand, inflation at close to zero, China's inevitable slowdown after over 2+ decades of mega growth, the US/China tariff standoff, and the risk of that spilling into a currency war, and the potential for a "no deal" Brexit have all added to the seeming inevitability of the "R" word recurring.

Expect the turmoil to continue. Inflation doesn't look like re-appearing in a hurry, central banks are more likely to cut rates before they raise them again, and neither Trump nor Xi can afford to lose their credibility, or lose face. If anything, this is looking like a slow train wreck in motion.

Our friends at Longview Economics in the UK published a piece last week outlining Charles Kindleberger's "Framework for Defining Asset Price Bubbles" which lists his four factors for defining a bubble, and which we've taken the opportunity of including below:

1. Cheap money underpins and creates the bubble;
2. Debt is taken on during the bubble build-up, which helps fuel much of the speculative price increases (e.g. buying on margin);
3. Once a bubble is formed, the asset price has a notably expensive valuation; and
4. There's always a convincing narrative to 'explain away' the high price. Reflecting that, there's a wide acceptance in certain quarters that the price is rational (and that 'this time it's different').

Sobering stuff.

Hong Kong's turmoil however is travelling at a much faster pace, and one wonders how much longer the Chinese government will resist the inevitable crackdown if the protesters don't back down. Once again there's credibility at stake, with significant economic damage gathering pace.

Closer to home turmoil in the financial services sector continues unabated with both NAB, and particularly AMP, moving to restructure their advice and distribution businesses. Although this may seem to be a tipping point, the move from the aligned to a more independent advice model has been gathering pace for some time. Driven in part by regulatory change, in part by the fallout from the Hayne Royal Commission, partly by the high cost of retail distribution channels (which at the end of the day the investor often ends up paying for) and partly by the rise of technology, the trend is going to continue.

Change, they say, is inevitable - if you don't embrace it before it occurs it is likely to devastate you. Throw in a solid dose of turmoil, and the odds get shorter that it will.

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Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund July 2019

16 Aug 2019 - Australian Fund Monitors

The latest Fund Review for the Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund is now available. The Fund is a long-biased, research driven, active equity long/short strategy which invests in listed ASX companies with track records greater than 10 years.

Commonwealth Bank's FY19 Result: Trench Warfare Ahead

15 Aug 2019 - Marcel von Pfyffer, Arminius Capital

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia ("CBA") is Australia's largest bank at $140.6 billion, and the most expensive of the Big Four, in terms of P/E, dividend yield, and price to book ratio. As such, its disappointing result for the year...

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22 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Touchstone Index Unaware Fund

21 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: NWQ Fiduciary Fund

21 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Wheelhouse Global Equity Income Fund

20 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Bennelong Twenty20 Australian Equities Fund

20 Aug 2019 - Advantage Advantest? Or why are Japanese technology companies so overlooked?

19 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Bennelong Australian Equities Fund

19 Aug 2019 - Performance Report: Harvest Lane Asset Management Absolute Return Fund

16 Aug 2019 - Hedge Clippings | 16 August 2019

16 Aug 2019 - Fund Review: Bennelong Kardinia Absolute Return Fund July 2019

15 Aug 2019 - Commonwealth Bank's FY19 Result: Trench Warfare Ahead

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