11 Aug 2016
July 2016 marked the second anniversary of the Cyan C3G Fund which has enjoyed annualised returns over two years of 35% p.a., significantly in excess of the 5.1% posted by the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index.
Full Report here: Cyan Monthly July 2016
The Cyan C3G Fund had a strong July, rising 5.8%, albeit slightly behind the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index. Again we note in achieving this return the Fund’s volatility, at 12.0%, has remained below both the large and small cap indices.
JULY PERFORMANCE
With the election being resolved in favour of the coalition and ‘Brexit’ becoming a distant memory, the domestic market rose aggressively across the board. Investors appear to have been further attracted to equities due to the expected extended period of low interest rates – which has been reinforced by the official 25bp rate cut to 1.5% on 2nd August 2016.
Pleasingly the C3G Fund had many good performers in July.
Afterpay (AFY) – in which the C3G Fund invested in at listing in June 2016 – rose over 60% in July. AFY gave an extremely positive trading update to the market mid-month which saw investors flock to the stock. This is a classic example of where Cyan has been able to add significant value: finding promising investments early in their public lifetime; doing comprehensive research; and making considered and meaningful investment decisions early.
During the month we increased our previously reduced holding in Bellamy’s (BAL). In its two years as a listed business, BAL has traded from $1 at IPO to over $16, although the stock had recently pulled back to around $10. Our research and company contact indicated that trading conditions remain buoyant which has been substantiated by an earnings upgrade in close competitor A2 Milk (A2M). BAL rose 16% in July.
Vita Group (VTG) continued to trade higher, rising 16% in the month. This telco retailer has delivered impressive returns from its footprint of ~100 Telstra retail stores. The business has successfully streamlined its existing operations and enhanced value from its footprint of stores, but still has an eye on growth and expansion.
APN Outdoor (APO) gained 17% as the market comes to appreciate the structural change impacting traditional advertising sectors. The shift toward outdoor for brand recognition along with technology developments in visual signage is helping drive the 20%+ earnings growth in APO’s business.
Seafarm Group (SFG), the listed aquaculture business in which the C3G Fund subscribed for a small amount of capital in its recent capital raising, rose 50% in July. This established farmed prawn producer is yet another example of a newly listed business in which the C3G Fund has benefitted from an early investment.
Whilst we typically talk about market falls there was nothing that significantly impacted Fund performance in July.
Despite – or perhaps given – the strong performance of the Fund, we have been reassessing the investment risk of the portfolio. The outperformance of the Fund to date has been driven as much by what we have not invested in and the investment risks we have controlled through prudent portfolio management.
As such we have reduced a number of holdings across the Fund including: Abundant Produce (ABT), Adacel Technologies (ADA), Afterpay (AFY), BlueSky (BLA), Lovisa (LOV), Melbourne IT (MLB) and Sealink (SLK).
FUND PERFORMANCE (after all fees)
OUTLOOK
With reporting season having just begun investors will be refocusing on company specific fundamentals and looking for themes and trends than might point to earnings growth over the coming years. We are likely to analyse and meet with more than 60 companies in the next few weeks, both ones in which the Fund has invested and those that we have on our watch list.
We are always searching for companies at the right stage of their lifecycle (as illustrated below) and expect that we will uncover a handful that meet our investment criteria and may be trading at the right price.
We also aim to protect capital by not over-exposing ourselves to any particular company or sector and holding a level of cash to protect the downside and take opportunities as they arise. We believe our portfolio is currently well positioned to find some sort of balance between growth and conservatism. We hold a cash balance of ~35% accompanied by a well-diversified portfolio of listed companies.
We would like to thank our investors for their support to date and are pleased we have been able to reward them with strongly positive and yet low-risk returns. We will strive to continue to find attractive business that we expect will provide solid returns to investors.
We look forward to keeping our investors updated with the Fund’s progress.
Dean Fergie & Graeme Carson
Cyan Investment Management