Three funds consistently ranked as 5 Crowns
Since the inception of FE fundinfo Crown Fund Ratings in 2017, there have only been three funds within the Australian Core Strategies universe that have been consistently given 5 Crown ratings every ratings rebalance.
This was down from seven funds during the last rebalance in August, 2020.
The funds this rebalance who continued to be a top performer were Cromwell Phoenix Opportunities, IOOF Multimix Growth, and IOOF Balanced Investor Trust.
Since the inception of the ratings, the Cromwell fund has returned 80.4%. The fund, like most, experienced a decrease in returns during the March sell-off last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it bounced back sharply and had already made back its losses by early August.
The fund’s portfolio manager, Richard Fakhry, said the closed fund had performed well over the last three years as it had a conservative cap on funds under management which allowed the fund to take meaningful positions in smaller securities and quickly respond to investment opportunities.
On navigating the sell-off, Fakhry said: “The very smallest companies which are the focus on the fund’s investment strategy experienced that greatest sell off in March as forced selling dynamics and limited liquidity resulted in price movements that appeared to bear little resemblance to underlying fundamentals.
“While our execution was not perfect, we were able to add value by selectively adding to companies whose near-term revenues were most directly affected by COVID-19 such as casino operators around the March lows.”
Over the longer term, the fund returned 135.1% over the five years to 31 December, 2020.
The two IOOF funds that were also consistently rated 5 Crowns were both multi-asset funds. Since the ratings inception the IOOF MultiMix Growth fund returned 36.96% and the IOOF Balanced Investor fund returned 29.78%.
Over the five years, the funds returned 53.88% and 45.77% respectively.
IOOF chief investment officer, Dan Farmer, said the funds managed to navigate through COVID-19 last year through its allocations towards direct property, especially its Australian direct property portfolio that generated a positive return.
“Our allocations to recovering retail sectors and positions in self-storage and some commercial office operators saw us continue to deliver returns for our clients.
“We also significantly increased our allocations to credit after the COVID-19 sell off, which has added a lot of value.”
Top rated funds since Crowns inception
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