David Macri, CIO, Australian Ethical was extremely pleased with the results as they continue to demonstrate the strength of Australian Ethical’s  investment philosophy and processes, which have allowed its investors to participate in top quartile performance without compromising on ethics or their values.

“Our domestic equities portfolios have consistently achieved outperformance with below average volatility, in some cases for over 20 years, incorporating several market booms and busts,” said Mr Macri. (See Mercer February performance table below)

“Our diversified equities fund, the Larger Companies Trust, was not only the top performing SRI/Ethical fund over the 12 months ending 28 February, it was also the top performing fund in the Mercer All Growth survey of Retail funds, returning 20.9% over the last 12 months. The Trust has a 25% allocation to the award winning Australian Ethical International Equities Trust with 75% allocated to companies listed on the ASX,” Mr Macri said.

In addition, the second best performing SRI/Ethical fund was Australian Ethical’s Australian equities fund, the Smaller Companies Trust, which returned 20.8% for our investors over the 12 months.

“While some may expect our a lack of exposure to the poorly performing Resources sector would have generated the most alpha, the main drivers of our excellent returns have in fact come from the healthcare, utilities and information technology sectors. Not only did the sectors outperform the market, our stock selection within these sectors added significant value for our investors,” Mr Macri said.

“It’s a real testament to not only our investment philosophy, style and process, but to an excellent and highly experienced investment team that are heavily focused and motivated  on delivering sustainable outperformance,” Mr Macri concluded.

The February Mercer Survey for managed funds and super

Managed Fund

• Advocacy Fund ranked 3^rd/24 over 6 months and 2^nd/23 over 1 year and FYTD.
• Larger Companies Trust ranked 3^rd/24 over 1 and 3 months, 2^nd/24 over 6 months, 1^st/23 over 1 and 2 years and FYTD, 1^st/19 over 3 years and 2^nd/14 over 7 years.
• Smaller Companies Trust ranked 1^st/67 over 7 years and 1^st/54 over 10 years.

Super and Pension

• Growth Pension ranked 1^st/65 over 1 and 6 months, 1 year and FYTD, 3^rd/65 over 3 months, 2^nd/63 over 2 years and 1^st/63 over 3 years.
• Smaller Companies Pension ranked 3^rd/68 over 7 years.
• Defensive Super ranked 3^rd/9 over 10 years.
• Growth Super ranked 1^st/50 over 1 month, 3^rd/50 over 6 months, 2^nd/50 over 1 year, 2^nd/45 over 2 years and 1^st/41 over 3 years.
• Advocacy Super ranked 3^rd/25 over 1 year.

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