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Master trusts have scored a rare win over industry funds in the year to June 2010, with returns of 12 per cent compared to 9.7 per cent for industry funds.
According to latest figures released by Chant West, this is only the second time in the past decade that retail funds have scored a win over their not-for-profit rivals.
Chant West director Warren Chant said asset master trusts had a higher average allocation to listed shares and property than industry funds, and had picked up more benefit as those markets strengthened for most of the year.
“Conversely, they have a much lower allocation to unlisted property, infrastructure and private equity, which produced relatively poor returns,” he added.
Chant also highlighted that over the longer term, the strategic allocation policies of industry funds have served them very well, as allocation to unlisted assets added to performance and reduced volatility.
“They do mean slightly higher investment costs, but those extra costs have been more than justified by the added benefits,” Chant said.
The research house also revealed the top ten performing growth funds, led by BT Multi-Manager Balanced with 13.9 per cent with Russell Balanced just behind with 13.5 per cent returns. The top ten also include CFS First Choice, AMP FutureDirections and MLC Horizon.
