Quality leads the way for SMAs

A “quality” focus has helped DNR Capital Australian Equities High Conviction Portfolio win the Money Management Fund Manager of the Year award in the Separately Managed Accounts – Australian Equities category.

Robert White, DNR Capital chief executive, said the fund was actively managed with a quality focus, which included key criteria such as balance sheet management, industry structure, and environmental, social and governance (ESG).

He praised chief investment officer and director Jamie Nicol and portfolio manager Scott Bender, with the broader investment team, for their work during the December quarter which “paid dividends” as the fund entered 2020.

“It was a tough quarter in the market and that work was really about portfolio positioning and the hard work paid dividends through 2019 into 2020,” he said.

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White said SMAs were an alternative to the more traditional investment structures out there as they provided investors and advisers with high degrees of flexibility over portfolio construction.

“The accessibility has grown dramatically, and platform representation has grown significantly as well,” White said.

Marcus Bogdan, Blackmore Capital chief investment officer, echoed the strengths of SMAs as an alternative.

“I think it’s been a great area of change for investors from wealth management firms, financial planning groups and accounts,” Bogdan said.

“The SMA space for retail and wholesale investors has the best of both worlds, in the sense the underlying investor owns the assets, they can see it, and they receive the underlying dividends and franking credits.

“But they also have the benefit of having a professional sitting over the top of that, allocating capital to companies they have researched and doing it in an appropriate and risk adjusted way.”