Allan Gray stays rules in latest Plexcrown survey

Allan Gray was once again rated as the best investment manager in the March quarter despite evident weaker relative performance over the past 12 months in certain asset classes. So says Ryk de Klerk, executive director of PlexCrown Fund Ratings, on whose methodology the coveted Raging Bull Management Company of the Year award is based.

The investment house’s rating of 4,750 PlexCrowns out of a maximum of 5 was way ahead of the other investment houses (see Table 1). According to De Klerk, Allan Gray continued to excel in all categories where it competes on the domestic and foreign fronts.

“The company’s top spot in overall domestic was achieved by sharing the honours in Domestic Equity with Kagiso, and Domestic Fixed Interest with Nedgroup Investments,” says De Klerk. “The company faltered somewhat in Domestic Asset Allocation with a joint fifth position.

Its top spot in overall foreign was underscored by achieving first position in Foreign Equity, and a joint first in Foreign and Worldwide Flexible with Foord.

According to De Klerk the ratings are done over a five-year period and weak short-term relative performances are not necessarily evident in the ratings. “Obviously continued weak relative performance will soon be reflected in the ratings,” he says.

Prudential continued its solid run, ousting previous quarter’s runner-up, Nedgroup Investments, to take second place. “Prudential achieved an overall rating of 3,917 PlexCrowns, taking third position in overall domestic as the company excelled with a joint first in Domestic Real Estate, third spot in Domestic Equity and joint fifth in Domestic Asset Allocation.

An average rating in Domestic Fixed Interest diluted the company’s overall domestic rating. Prudential was runner-up in overall foreign due to its shared second places in Foreign Equity and Foreign Fixed Interest,” says De Klerk.

“Nedgroup Investments’ third place overall with a rating of 3,656 PlexCrowns was secured by a very strong showing on the domestic front, where it was runner-up to Allan Gray,” says De Klerk. “It shared the top spot in Domestic Fixed Interest, supported by a strong showing in Domestic Equity, despite some dilution as a result of our reclassification of its Growth Fund to General Equity.”

The reason for the reclassification was that the Growth subcategory lost qualification status as the SIM Growth Fund merged with the SIM General Equity Fund.

The investment house’s overall rating was watered down by a below-average foreign rating due to a weak Foreign Equity rating.

Regarding FSB-approved offshore funds, Investec is leading the pack with an overall offshore rating of 4,267 PlexCrowns (see Table 2). According to De Klerk the investment house is firing on virtually all cylinders, taking the honours in both Total Fixed Interest and Global Asset Allocation, and a commendable fourth position in Total Equity.

“Investec shone in the regional equity sectors. It was the top performing manager in US Equity, joint leader in Far East Equity and Europe Equity and runner-up in UK Equity,” says De Klerk.

Orbis was pipped at the post by Franklin Templeton and was placed second with an overall offshore rating of 3,517 PlexCrowns. The company’s overall rating was underscored by a joint first position in Far East Equity, second place in Global Asset Allocation, second place in US Equity, and a joint third place in European Equity.

Orbis’s overall offshore rating of 3,333 PlexCrowns was underscored by its strengths in Japan Equity, where the investment house shared the honours with Ashburton and shared the second spot in Global Equity General.

The PlexCrown Survey is available on http://www.plexcrown.com/.

Table 1

Table 2