Allan Gray‘s strategy pays off in Plexcrown survey

Allan Gray continues its reign for the seventh consecutive quarter following its crowning as the top-rated manager in the June 2010 quarterly PlexCrown Survey.

“Allan Gray has traditionally been well-known for its prowess as an equity manager,” says Ryk de Klerk, director of PlexCrown Fund Ratings. “However, the company’s achievement is spectacular as it excels in the fixed interest and equity asset classes, both locally and internationally.” This is also the tenth time the asset manager has ranked as best Total Foreign manager.

Allan Gray improved its March 2010 rating of 4.50 PlexCrowns to end the June quarter on 4.75 PlexCrowns (out of a maximum of five PlexCrowns). According to De Klerk, one reason why Allan Gray bettered its last quarter result is that it stubbornly stuck to its investment strategy.

“While Allan Gray underperformed in the strong equity market rally up to the end of the March quarter, its cautious strategy has been more than vindicated over the past quarter,” says De Klerk. “With rather dismal-looking shorter-term performance rankings at the end of March due to a more cautious investment strategy than most of its peers, the tables turned dramatically in Allan Gray’s favour after equities achieved poor returns in the June quarter.”

The company ranked as follows in the various sectors in which it was represented at the end of June (March results are shown in brackets):

Ø Joint first in Domestic Equity (joint forth)

Ø Third in Domestic Fixed Interest (joint third)

Ø Joint first in Domestic Asset Allocation (joint first)

Ø Joint first in Foreign Equity (joint first)

Ø Joint first in Foreign and Worldwide Flexible (joint first)

Ø First in Total Domestic (first)

Ø Joint first in Total Foreign (joint first).

Nedgroup Investments was runner-up with a rating of 3.938. This asset manager ousted Prudential, which clinched second position in the first quarter of 2010. According to De Klerk, this is the best position Nedgroup Investments has achieved since the inception of the PlexCrown rating system in September 2005.

Nedgroup Investments, which outsources the management of its funds to independent specialist managers and has always had top-rated funds, achieved first position in the Domestic Fixed Interest sector and second position in Total Domestic.

Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) ranked third with a rating of 3.760. This is only the second quarter in which SIM has qualified for a rating. In 2008 Sanlam and SIM reorganised their offerings in such a way that most of the funds were managed by SIM, but this resulted in Sanlam losing its rating. “It is the highest rating ever achieved by either SIM or Sanlam,” says De Klerk. SIM’s third position was underscored by a joint first in Foreign Equity and second position in Total Foreign.

According to Candice Paine, SIM’s head of retail, their success is attributed to a relentless adherence to their pragmatic investment philosophy and their large, stable and experienced investment team that gives it life.

“Our investment professionals aren’t swayed by emotion and invest only based on their measure of the underlying intrinsic value of assets. Our multi-specialist team structure enables portfolio managers to operate with semi-autonomy but within a single investment culture,” says Paine. “Portfolio managers accept accountability for their performance and are remunerated accordingly. You won’t see our funds moving around the league tables because we have a long-term mindset and thus aim for consistent, sustainable performance ahead of our benchmarks.”

SIM MD Armien Tyer says: “We are exceptionally pleased at having made it onto the podium as the third-placed management company in the June Plexcrown Survey. We see our ranking as the culmination of a focused five-year effort to build a pedigreed investment capability within Sanlam. Such excellence is mirrored in the performance of many of our institutional products as well. We believe the investing public will increasingly reward us with the responsibility of looking after their money, as is already evident in the flows we receive across both the retail and institutional markets.”

According to the PlexCrown Survey, which rates funds in terms of risk-adjusted returns, 392 funds were rated at the end of June 2010 compared to 382 funds at the end of March 2010. Of these 76,3% of the fund ratings remained stable. A total of 22,3% of the funds experienced minor rating changes and five funds experienced major rating changes.

The best-performing funds over the three-month period were the Old Mutual Gold Fund A and the STANLIB Gold and Precious Metals Fund A with 9,1% and 7,4% respectively. The worst fund for the last quarter was the Sanlam Pan Europe Fund with –13,5%.

Over the past 12 months the best-performing unit trust was the RMB Small/Mid Cap Fund A with 43,7%, followed by the Grindrod Global Property Income Fund with 42,6%. The worst-performing fund was the RMB Euro Income Fund A with –15,6%.

The best fund over three years was the Cadiz Equity Ladder Fund with 21,9% per annum and the best fund over five years was the Old Mutual Mining and Resources Fund A with 21,9% per annum.

PlexCrown domestic CIS manager ranking – overall