09 May 2016
The Cyan C3G Fund delivered an outstanding return of 7.9% after all fees in April, strongly outperforming the returns of both the Small Industrials Index (+0.5%) and the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index (+3.2%).
(Full Report available: Cyan Monthly April 2016.1 )
After an excellent 2015, the first quarter of 2016 presented its challenges, with higher quality industrial companies generally underperforming their counterparts in the resources and energy sectors. We used that weakness to deploy some of the Fund’s high cash balance and were rewarded with a number of strong performances in April.
FUND PERFORMANCE
Happily, the majority of companies in the Cyan C3G Fund delivered positive performances, the most notable contributors including:
Freelancer (FLN) +29% – This global leader is benefitting from the structural shift towards a growing workforce of outsourced freelancers. FLN enjoyed a strong rebound in its share price through April, finishing the month up strongly having announced an impressive March quarter performance to the market.
Adacel (ADA) +9% – This developer of control systems for the civil aviation and defence sectors recovered from recent share price weakness to deliver 9% share price growth over the month. We expect further market support as its increasing recurring revenue base generates strong profit growth over the remainder of the year.
Skydive The Beach (SKB) +19% – Australia’s leading adventure sports travel business dominates the skydiving industry in Australia and has a growing presence in New Zealand. We expect SKB to deliver its earnings guidance and complement the existing footprint with acquisitions into other travel related adventure businesses. We’ve been invested in this stock since its IPO and the shares have more than doubled since listing in March 2015.
There were only a couple of negative performers that included Millenium Group (-20%), which we have now exited, and Blue Sky (-5%).
We also enjoyed success with a couple of IPOs that we had previously flagged our investment in:
Abundant Produce (ABT)+192% – Having met with management on three occasions prior to the April IPO, we decided to make an investment in this company. Backed by technology out of Sydney University, ABT is focussed on the intellectual property of agricultural seeds and is rapidly approaching commercialisation with its first seed varieties. It also has a strong future pipeline of differentiated products that have attracted strong demand from the lucrative global commercial seed market. ABT successfully listed in the last week of April at an issue price of $0.20, before rising an incredible 192% to close the month at $0.58.
Reliance Worldwide (RWC)+18% – This global industrial company focussed on the plumbing industry listed at the end of the month, closing at a solid 18% premium to its issue price.
OUTLOOK
Overall, we remain conservatively exposed to what believe to be a high quality and well-diversified portfolio of 27 Australian smaller companies, with no single stock representing more than 6% of the total Cyan portfolio.
Whilst it would otherwise be easy to get carried away when the Fund is performing so well, we are constantly looking for new opportunities and, equally importantly, reassessing the valuations, the potential and the financial risk of the Fund’s current investments. Of course the Fund’s returns can regularly be accelerated by the stellar performances of the more exciting smaller cap stocks we occasionally discover through our extensive research process.
To be clear, this is not by chance or luck. We take dozens of meetings and spend countless hours each and every month in order to discover the one or two stocks that can make a significant positive impact on the Fund’s overall returns.
Whilst this clearly won’t occur each and every month, we do expect that we will continue to discover these performers.
(Full Report available: Cyan Monthly April 2016.1 )