BACT : BACIT cautious on markets
Over the period from 1 April 2014 to 30 September 2014 BACIT generated a total return of just 0.6% on net assets – the net asset value fell from 114.1p to 112.8p but this was after the payment of a 2p dividend. The FTSE All-Share Index return was 1.2% and a hedge fund index – the HFRI Fund of Funds Strategic Index, rose by 4.3%.
The Chairman’s statement says that the portfolio is positioned more cautiously than it was and that the manager is placing more emphasis on preservation of capital. They have cut the exposure to long equity funds from 30% to 25% and upped the hedge fund weighting to 50% from 44%. They reckon the portfolio is less than 50% net long now.
The manager’s report has no detailed attribution figures but does say that Japanese equity exposure made them money which presumably came from their investments in Polar Capital Japan Alpha and SFP Value Realization Fund. Their Russian exposure (held through prosperity Russia Domestic Fund and Russian Prosperity Fund), while small, cost them money. They say two of their commodity funds made them money (but not which two). They also highlight European mortgage backed securities as an area of strong performance which is presumably a reference to WyeTree European Recovery Fund – one of the funds they added exposure to during the period.