The First Sentier Wholesale Australian Share Fund invests in a broad selection of Australian listed companies, with between 30 to 40 stocks typically held in the portfolio.
The Wholesale Australian Share Fund delivered another strong quarterly return as it outperformed its benchmark, the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index, by more than 4%.
Over what has been an unprecedented year for capital markets, the Fund performed admirably and delivered a pleasing return for investors. By investing in companies with above-market growth potential, high-quality earnings and robust balance sheets, the Fund outperformed the broader equity market by more than 20% in the 2020 calendar year.
Contributing to the Fund’s outperformance were the overweight positions in the Buy-Now-Pay-Later firm Afterpay (APT) and the cloud accounting software provider Xero (XRO). Afterpay moved +47.5% higher through the December quarter as it benefited from a raft of positive trading updates. Each update highlighted continued customer, merchant and sales growth while loss metrics remained relatively unchanged. The most recent trading update announced that the business had set a new monthly sales record in November, with more than $2.1bn in sales being processed through the platform. Adding further support was the partnership between APT and Westpac Bank, which will allow APT to offer Australian customers transaction and savings accounts along with other cashflow management tools. The additional products will help cement Afterpay’s dominant position in the market whilst also offering additional transaction data that will feed into APT’s risk control mechanisms.
XRO rallied +10.8% as expectations of a recovery in SME activity improved. A positive first-half result provided additional support, with XRO explaining positive subscriber growth and lower costs helped margins and earnings to grow above consensus expectations. Through its cloud accounting software, subscribers are able to efficiently view and submit tax return filings, monitor live data from bank feeds and access their ledger anywhere and at any time. These items place XRO in good stead to grow its market share, particularly in the US, and drive profitability.
Somewhat dragging on the Fund’s performance were the overweight positions in The a2 Milk Company (A2M) and Megaport (MP1). A disappointing trading update released in December was the key catalyst driving A2M’s -18.5% decline. The continued disruption to diagou sales activity, which represents a significant portion of infant nutrition sales, drove A2M to downgrade its FY21 sales and earnings guidance. Management noted that the protracted disruption, caused by lockdown laws and travel restrictions, had also spread to A2M’s other nutritional segments. While the overall trading update was disappointing, the release also included several positive items. Chinese MBS sales activity has remained strong through 1H21 with revenue growth expected to reach 40%. Further, the liquid milk businesses in Australia and the US have been performing well and are expected to deliver strong first-half earnings growth.
The cloud connectivity services provider Megaport (-11.4%) moved lower following the release of its first-quarter trading update in the early stages of the quarter. Despite adding an additional 566 ports and 138 customers in the first quarter of FY21, the market instead focused on the temporary slowing in revenue growth caused by a one-off repricing of legacy products. An investor presentation released later in the quarter helped MP1 to somewhat recover as management noted continued customer, ports and EBITDA growth. We remain attracted to MP1 given its global leadership in Software Defined Networking, offering corporates and enterprises flexible, scalable, on-demand cloud connectivity via its NaaS (Network as a Service) offering.
What is CFS Wholesale Australian Share CFS Wholesale Australian Share is an Managed Funds investment product that is benchmarked against ASX Index 200 Index and sits inside the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index. Think of a benchmark as a standard where investment performance can be measured. Typically, market indices like the ASX200 and market-segment stock indexes are used for this purpose. The CFS Wholesale Australian Share has Assets Under Management of 143.65 M with a management fee of 0.96%, a performance fee of 0.00% and a buy/sell spread fee of 0.4%.
How has the investment product performed recently?
The recent investment performance of the investment product shows that the CFS Wholesale Australian Share has returned 3.51% in the last month. The previous three years have returned 4.72% annualised and 13.75% each year since inception, which is when the CFS Wholesale Australian Share first started.
How is risk measured in this investment product?
There are many ways that the risk of an investment product can be measured, and each measurement provides a different insight into the risk present. They can be used on their own or together to perform a risk assessment before investing, but when comparing investments, it is common to compare like for like risk measurements to determine which investment holds the most risk. Since CFS Wholesale Australian Share first started, the Sharpe ratio is NA with an annualised volatility of 13.75%. The maximum drawdown of the investment product in the last 12 months is -5.04% and -43.7% since inception. The maximum drawdown is defined as the high-to-low decline of an investment during a particular time period.
What is the relative performance of the investment product?
Relative performance is what an asset achieves over a period of time compared to similar investments or its peers. Relative return is a measure of the asset's performance compared to the return to the other investment. The CFS Wholesale Australian Share has a 12-month excess return when compared to the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index of 2.18% and -0.35% since inception.
Does the investment product produce Alpha over its Peers?
Alpha is an investing term used to measure an investment's outperformance relative to a market benchmark or peer investment. Alpha describes the excess return generated when compared to peer investment. CFS Wholesale Australian Share has produced Alpha over the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index of NA% in the last 12 months and NA% since inception.
What are similar investment products?
For a full list of investment products in the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index category, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
What level of diversification will CFS Wholesale Australian Share provide?
CFS Wholesale Australian Share has a correlation coefficient of 0.97 and a beta of 1.07 when compared to the Domestic Equity - Large Growth Index. Correlation measures how similarly two investments move in relation to one another. This establishes a 'correlation coefficient', which has a value between -1.0 and +1.0. A 100% correlation between two investments means that the correlation coefficient is +1. Beta in investments measures how much the price moves relative to the broader market over a period of time. If the investment moves more than the broader market, it has a beta above 1.0. If it moves less than the broader market, then the beta is less than 1.0. Investments with a high beta tend to carry more risk but have the potential to deliver higher returns.
How do I compare the investment product with its peers?
For a full quantitative report on CFS Wholesale Australian Share and its peer investments, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
How do I compare the CFS Wholesale Australian Share with the ASX Index 200 Index?
For a full quantitative report on CFS Wholesale Australian Share compared to the ASX Index 200 Index, you can click here.
Can I sort and compare the CFS Wholesale Australian Share to do my own analysis?
To sort and compare the CFS Wholesale Australian Share financial metrics, please refer to the table above.
Has the CFS Wholesale Australian Share been independently verified by SMSF Mate?
This investment product is in the process of being independently verified by SMSF Mate. Once we have verified the investment product, you will be able to find more information here.
How can I invest in CFS Wholesale Australian Share?
If you or your self managed super fund would like to invest in the CFS Wholesale Australian Share please contact Tower 1, Ground Floor, 201 Sussex St,Sydney, NSW, 2000 via phone +61 2 93782000 or via email -.
How do I get in contact with the CFS Wholesale Australian Share?
If you would like to get in contact with the CFS Wholesale Australian Share manager, please call +61 2 93782000.
Comments from SMSF Mates
SMSF Mate does not receive commissions or kickbacks from the CFS Wholesale Australian Share. All data and commentary for this fund is provided free of charge for our readers general information.
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