Summer New Zealand Equities
Summer New Zealand Equities fund performance summary as at 31 December 2019.
Fund at a glance
Unit price (as at 31 December 2019): $1.5073
Date the fund started: 19 September 2016
For information on fees, see our Fees page.
For more information on the Summer New Zealand Equities fund, read the latest quarterly fund update and the product disclosure statement.
Fund objective and strategy
See the New Zealand Equities page for the Summary of investment objective and strategy.
Fund returns
| Annualised total since inception | 1 Month | 3 Months | 1 Year | 3 Years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund | 13.43% | 0.77% | 3.50% | 23.49% | 16.17% |
Fund returns are calculated net of fund charges, trading expenses and accrued tax for a New Zealand resident individual paying tax at the highest Prescribed Investor Rate (28%).
Top 10 investments
| Asset name | % of fund net assets | |
| 1 | The a2 Milk Company Limited | 9.80% |
| 2 | Meridian Energy Limited | 6.85% |
| 3 | Spark New Zealand Limited | 6.75% |
| 4 | ANZ transactional bank account | 6.29% |
| 5 | Infratil Limited | 6.27% |
| 6 | Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited | 6.21% |
| 7 | Contact Energy Limited | 5.09% |
| 8 | Ebos Group Limited | 4.84% |
| 9 | Mainfreight Limited | 4.66% |
| 10 | Genesis Energy Limited | 3.87% |
The top 10 investments make up 60.63% of the fund.
Market Commentary
The New Zealand equity market posted a December quarter return of 5.34% (the return of the S&P/NZX 50 Gross with Imputation Index). In the same period, the Summer New Zealand Equities delivered a return of around 3.50%, taking the 12-month return to 23.49%.
Portfolio Positioning
Summer New Zealand Equities enjoyed a strong quarter in an absolute sense but did underperform the index primarily due to underweight exposures to Fisher and Paykel Healthcare (FPH), and Summerset (SUM), and overweight exposures to Z Energy (ZEL) and Genesis Energy (GNE). During the quarter FPH upgraded its FY20 earnings guidance by 4% with the share price returning a quite astonishing 29%. FPH is a high quality business which continues to deliver on a well-articulated growth story; however, we struggle to justify current valuation levels which are elevated versus any benchmark (even when growth adjusted). During the quarter ZEL reported a soft 1H20 result and a pre-Christmas surprise downgrade citing very tough retail competition. We had materially trimmed our ZEL exposure post the September quarter however in hindsight not nearly enough. Looking forward we believe ZEL offers good value with retail conditions unlikely to deteriorate further, self-help (cost-out) opportunities, and an increased chance of takeover activity over the Tasman spilling into New Zealand. On the positive side of the ledger, positive performance was achieved from our overweight exposures to Sanford and Chorus and an underweight exposure to Auckland International Airport. A small number of stock exposures were added to the portfolio including Tilt Renewables, Marsden Maritime Holdings, and Tower. Most notably we added Metlifecare to the portfolio at the start of October at NZ$4.44 however its stay in the portfolio looks likely to be short lived with a NZ$7 takeover offer received in the last few days of 2019.
Outlook
Economic issues remain highly influential. After the Reserve Bank of New Zealand made the surprise decision to keep the Official Cash Rate on hold at 1 per cent in November and modestly improving economic data, there is now only a 50% chance of a further 25bp rate cut by Q3 this calendar year. That being said rates are likely to remain low for some time with the portfolio positioned to benefit from a number of utility type exposures but also including a healthy selection of growth-at-a-reasonable-price stock exposures.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial product and does not take your personal circumstances into account. All opinions reflect our judgement on the date of communication and may change without notice. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance. We recommend you take financial advice before making investment decisions. We have prepared this web page in good faith based on information obtained from other sources, but we do not guarantee the accuracy of that information. We do not make any representation or warranty (express or implied) that this web page is accurate, complete, or current and to the maximum extent permitted by law disclaim any liability for loss which may be incurred by any person relying on this web page.
