Comtrust Equity Fund up 9.6% in 1H16, outperforms ASPI

8 November 2015 06:30 pm Views - 1263

Comtrust Equity Fund, a balanced fund investing in both equity and fixed income, rose 9.6 percent for the six months ended 30 September 2015 (1H16), recording an over performance of 6.2 percent vs. the benchmark All Share Price Index (ASPI), which rose 3.4 percent during the same 
time period. 

The Fund also beat the more liquid S&P SL20 index which declined 0.7 percent, and the All Share Total Returns Index (ASTRI - inclusive of dividends) which rose 3.6 percent for 1H16. 

Additionally, the Fund has also performed well in 2015 YTD, rising 12.3 percent for the period 31 December 2014 – 30 September 2015; outperforming the ASPI and S&P SL20 by 15.7 percent and 18.7 percent respectively. Over the past three years, the Fund has achieved a CAGR of 14.2 percent, whereas the both the ASPI and S&P SL20 recorded a 3 year CAGR of 5.7 percent each, and ASTRI posted a return of 7.8 percent for the corresponding time period.

Further, this is the fifth consecutive year that the Fund has maintained a distribution of Rs 2.00 per unit as dividends. The dividend yield has also been fairly attractive, having given an average of 10.9 percent for the past five years.

“The strategy to capitalize on benefits accruing to the consumer and manufacturing sectors at the beginning of the year via salary increases and cost of living reductions has paid off rich dividends” said Thinushka Soysa, Senior Fund Manager at Comtrust Asset Management (Pvt) Ltd.

Thinushka has managed the Comtrust Equity Fund for the past three and a half years, prior to which she held the position of Senior Equity Analyst, covering multiple sectors at CT CLSA Securities (Pvt) Ltd. She counts nearly seven years of industry experience within the fields of Fund Management, Equity Research 
and Analysis. 

Comtrust Asset Management (Pvt) Ltd is a pioneer Unit Trust Management company established in 1992 and manages funds with varied mandates including Unit Trusts, Islamic Funds as well as Corporate and HNW individual portfolios. Total assets under management in the unit trust category totaled Rs.8.2bn as at 30 September 2015. The company is backed by the strength of the Colombo Stock Exchange Listed Conglomerate CT Holdings PLC, and CLSA, Asia’s leading equity broker and investment group.