Fund Manager of the Year 2014: Australian Equities (Small Cap)
Winner
Ausbil MicroCap Fund
Finalists
Pengana Emerging Companies Fund
NovaPort Smaller Companies Fund
A philosophy of finding companies that can deliver earnings over and above consensus market expectation has seen Ausbil MicroCap Fund win the Australian Equities (small cap) category at this year’s Money Management/Lonsec Fund Manager of the Year Awards.
Portfolio manager Tony Waters said the firm had given investors good returns over the last 12 months, and it did that from a risk-adjusted basis.
“Our process is looking at the sort of metrics in a company that gives it a good probability of delivering earnings above market expectation,” he said.
The fund has been agnostic to sector classes, achieving performance across industrials such as telecommunication and software companies, and resources companies such as BC Iron.
“We have been overweight in industrials and underweight in resources just because there have been limited opportunities in the resources space,” Waters said.
NovaPort Smaller Companies Fund made it as a finalist in the category as the boutique heads towards its fourth anniversary in September.
Portfolio manager Alex Milton said the fund boutiques smaller companies and the market cap funds.
“The process has shown itself to work in good times as well as tough times. It takes a longer-term perspective on the market and it has a focus on an absolute return rather than trying to mimic the benchmark,” he said.
Pengana Emerging Companies Fund, another finalist in the category, credits consistency over the past 10 years for it qualifying in the category.
A team from the stock pickers’ fund visits six to seven companies a week and picks 50-60 stocks out of up to 800, senior fund manager Ed Prendergast said.
“To find the good ones you have to churn through a lot of company contacts. It is very much a needle in a haystack game,” Prendergast said.
“The most important thing is we don’t wait for third party information or views on stocks,” he said.
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