Funds with large Westpac holdings perform well
Funds that were invested 10% or more in Westpac performed relatively well despite Westpac Group posting a decline of 16% in its net profit to $6.78 billion during FY19.
According to FE Analytics, all eight funds within the Australian Core Strategies Universe that had a substantial weighting towards the bank returned between 12.55% and 18.38% over the year to 31 October, 2019.
This was despite the bank’s profit being hit by customer remediation costs, cessation of grandfathered advice commissions, exiting its financial planning business, and the impact of regulatory changes on revenue following the Royal Commission.
Westpac Group chief executive, Brian Hartzer, said: “2019 has been a disappointing year. Financial results are down significantly in a challenging, low-growth, low interest rate environment”.
The top performing fund was State Street Global Advisor’s SPDR MSCI Australia Select High Dividend Yield fund which had a 10.35% weighting towards Westpac.
Over the year to 31 October, 2019, the fund returned 18.38%. However, over the three and five year periods the fund dropped to the second quartile in terms of performance at 31% and 31.65% respectively.
|
|
Weighting in Westpac |
One-year to 31 October 2019 performance |
Three-years to 31 October 2019 performance |
Five-years to 31 October 2019 performance |
|
SSGA SPDR MSCI Australia Select High Dividend Yield |
10.35% |
18.38%
|
31.05% |
31.65% |
|
Mutual 50 Leaders Australian Shares |
11.54% |
17.01%
|
36.93% |
28.99% |
|
BlackRock iShares S&P/ASX Dividend Opportunities ETF |
10.62%* |
16.48% |
23.83% |
16.68% |
|
VanEck Australian Banks ETF |
20.26% |
16.01% |
28.47% |
32.68% |
|
SSGA SPDR S&PASX 200 Financials ex AREIT |
17.52% |
15.43% |
24.07% |
23.81% |
|
BetaShares Australian Dividend Harvester |
11.2%* |
14.71% |
3.83% |
1.8% |
|
Antares High Growth Shares Personal |
10.1%* |
12.9% |
39.9% |
52.62% |
|
Antares Elite Opportunities Professional |
14.62%* |
12.55% |
36.9% |
49.59% |
*Largest holding in fund
Source: FE Analytics
The lowest performer of the group, Antares Elite Opportunities Professional had the third highest weighting towards Westpac (14.6%) returned 12.5%. However, over the five years to 31 October, 2019, it was second leader of the pack with a return of 49.6%.
The top performer over the five years was Antares High Growth Shares Personal fund at 52.6%. Both the Antares funds had their largest holding in Westpac.
Performance of funds with large Westpac holding over the year to 31 October 2019
Source: FE Analytics
Recommended for you
Being able to provide certainty about redemptions is worth fund managers pursuing when targeting the retail market even if it means sacrificing returns, according to Federation Asset Management.
Regal chief investment officer Philip King will step down from listed investment company VGI Partners Global Investments after the LIC reported a loss of $17.6 million for FY25.
Real asset commentators have shared what advisers should be considering when conducting their due diligence on the assets and how they can mitigate illiquidity for retail clients.
GQG Partners has announced net flows were down 28 per cent in the first half of 2025, with redemption pressure particularly hitting Australia.
