How are last year’s top equity funds holding up?

Of the five top-performing Australian equities funds last year, only one fund has managed to keep up momentum this year, data from FE Analytics shows.

While BlackRock’s Concentrated Total Return Share, Equity and Growth funds secured the top three positions in 2017, this first six months of 2018 have seen them disappear.

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Returning 39.32 per cent, 30.76 per cent and 30.56 per cent last year respectively, the funds have returned 4.46 per cent, 6.07 per cent and 6.01 per cent respectively in H1. The Equity and Growth funds remained in the top quartile while the top Concentrated Total Return Share fund dropped to the second quartile.

Taking their place is the Bennelong Australian Equities fund in the top position, with returns for the year to 30 June of 15.93 per cent, up from 19.16 per cent for 2017.

The FE four-Crown rated fund primarily invests in consumer products (40.27 per cent), with healthcare and basic materials allocated the next largest weightings.

It’s top ten holdings include CSL Limited, BHP Billiton, Aristocrat Leisure, Flight Centre Travel Group, Rio Tinto and Domino’s Pizza Enterprises.

The DDH Selector Australian Equities Fund came in second, up from 12^th position in 2017, with returns of 13.77 per cent, and the Platypus Australian Equities fund was in third position with returns of 13.33 per cent.

The chart below shows the performance of the top three funds for the year to June 30, and the top three funds for 2017 as against the ACS Equity – Australia sector average.

Other top ten players last year have improved their performance. For example, CFS’ Colonial First State Wholesale Geared Share, which placed seventh relative to its peers last year, placed sixth this year, while the Ganes Value Growth fund jumped from ninth to fourth.

The table below shows the performance of the top ten funds in 2017 and their performance for the year to 30 June.