Fiducian’s Ultra Growth fund has been ranked among the most consistent multi-asset funds, having sat at or near the top of their peer group for the last 10 years.
According to data from FE Analytics, the $233 million Ultra Growth fund was first over one year, five years, and 10 years and second over three years (behind Simplicity Growth Investment).
It sat in the mixed asset – growth sector, within the Australian Core Strategies universe, and aimed to have 95% exposure to growth assets to generate high returns over the longer term. However, the firm said it could also expect to experience higher volatility in a market downturn than other funds.
Over one year, it saw returns of 16.1% versus returns of 5.7% by the sector average, returns of 11.7% on a five-year annualised basis compared to sector average returns of 7.7%, and returns of 10.6% on a 10-year annualised basis compared to sector returns of 7.2%.
On a total return basis, the Ultra Growth returned 172% over 10 years to 31 January, 2021, versus returns by the sector of 106%.
Current weightings in the fund included 46% to Australian small-cap shares, 34.9% to global small-caps and emerging markets, 10.8% to technology and 7.7% to property.
Speaking to Money Management, fund manager Conrad Burge, said the fund had a three-stage process crucial to its performance.
“Careful manager selection in each of the key growth asset sectors including domestic shares, international shares and listed property securities. Our focus in each of these sectors is especially in high-performing asset sectors including emerging markets, smaller companies, both domestically and internationally, and technology,” he said.
“Then we make asset allocation decisions based on analysis on the global macroeconomic environment and tilting towards selected managers in the appropriate time in the economic cycle.
“Our process intrinsically incorporates a restriction in risk taking through extensive diversification of investment across sectors, managers (including investment styles) and securities, without gearing.”
Meanwhile, the Fiducian Growth fund, which sat in the same sector, was second over five years and third over three years.
The difference between the two funds was the Ultra Growth fund targeted higher growth assets such as small caps and emerging markets while the growth focused on large-caps and property.
