Australian equity funds unphased by GFC


Money Management, using FE Analytics, has looked at those funds in the ACS Equity – Australia sector with positive returns over discrete annual periods since the global financial crisis (GFC) to see who emerged unscathed.
Seven funds in the sector managed to produce consistently positive returns, with two funds even producing positive returns during the crisis.
The five FE Crown-rated CI Brunswick fund was the top performer, sitting in the top quartile for six years after the crisis and dropping to third quartile last year and second quartile for the period to 30 June this year.
The fund, which aims to produce returns exceeding the S&P ASX 200 Index, invests mostly in growth assets (93.90 per cent) and some defensive assets (6.10 per cent).
It holds a 22.57 per cent weighting to equities based primarily in Australia (71.33 per cent), followed by basic materials (19.19 per cent), and financials (14.47 per cent).
The five FE Crown-rated Ganes Focused Value fund and Ganes Value Growth fund also held up in the aftermath of the GFC, with positive returns for each year following the crisis.
The Focused Value fund returned 30.24 per cent for the year to 30 June and the Value Growth fund returned 27.63 per cent and invested in 94.14 per cent growth assets and 5.86 per cent defensive assets.
IML’s Australian Share and Pengana’s Australian Equities sat in fourth and fifth position, while Perpetual’s Pure Value Share and Perpetual’s Wholesale Ethical SRI fund sat in sixth and seventh position.
The table below shows the returns of the funds that remained in the positive for all years (measured from 30 June to 30 June the following year) post-GFC.
Name |
2017-2018 |
2016-2017 |
2015- 2016 |
2014-2015 |
2013-2014 |
2012-2013 |
2011--2012 |
2010-2011 |
2009-2010 |
2008-2009 |
CI Brunswick ATR in AU |
14.27 |
12.13 |
10.44 |
12.56 |
24.59 |
29.88 |
9.45 |
14.48 |
17.59 |
-20.04 |
Ganes Focused Value ATR in AU |
30.24 |
13.99 |
4.26 |
2.61 |
5.68 |
23.74 |
2.94 |
17.86 |
24.57 |
-14.06 |
Ganes Value Growth ATR in AU |
27.63 |
13.69 |
6.77 |
3.36 |
6.41 |
23.34 |
5.09 |
17.01 |
23.19 |
-11.92 |
IML Australian Share ATR in AU |
5.18 |
12.54 |
5.11 |
10.02 |
13.96 |
27.26 |
1.34 |
12.55 |
15.55 |
-10.75 |
Pengana Australian Equities ATR in AU |
8.08 |
10.2 |
7.71 |
8.9 |
9.16 |
23.96 |
8.28 |
17.41 |
12.52 |
2.72 |
Perpetual Pure Value Share ATR in AU |
7.68 |
15.51 |
8.89 |
6.18 |
22.65 |
19.24 |
7.78 |
13.12 |
42.23 |
30.33 |
Perpetual Wholesale Ethical SRI ATR in AU |
6.21 |
13.85 |
5.88 |
10.36 |
18.44 |
35.86 |
5.23 |
11.02 |
36.71 |
-11.43 |
The top five funds all experienced a lower drawdown than the sector average, which at its worst returned an average of -16.79 per cent. The Pengana Australian Equities fund experienced the lowest average maximum drawdown, returning -9.67, followed by the CI Brunswick fund with -11.02 per cent.
The chart below shows the performance of the top five funds against the sector average for the period 30 June 2009 to 30 June 2018.
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