Platypus has topped Mercer Investment Consulting’s list of top performing Australian share fund managers for 2005-06, rewarding investors with an impressive 43.7 per cent for the year.
Second-placed BGI Equitised Long Short Fund returned 38.3 per cent for the year, while Alleron returned 33.5 per cent to claim third place on the rankings.
The average active Australian share manager also had a good year, outperforming the market — which produced its third year of 20 per cent returns — by 2.3 per cent, even after fees.
This year’s 24 per cent return on the S&P/ASX 300 Index followed returns of 26 per cent and 21.7 per cent in the two previous financial years, pushing the three-year returns to more than 90 per cent.
Deutsche Thematic ranked first in Mercer’s overseas share manager rankings for the year, returning 37.9 per cent, while Lazard Thematic was next with 31 per cent and Zurich following on 30.5 per cent.
The survey found all major share markets posted double-digit returns (except for the US), with Japan, a laggard last financial year, returning 40.2 per cent this year.
Overseas share markets recorded their best performance in Australian dollar terms for a financial year since 2000, with the MSCI World ex-Australia index finishing the year up 19.9 per cent.
