The Foord Equity Fund is a general equity fund investing in specially selected equities across the spectrum of the JSE. It is aimed at those investors seeking to maximise their long-term total returns, whilst accepting the full risk of investment in the share market and is suited to being a component of any long-term discretionary savings portfolio. The objective is to provide clients with a superior return to that of the FTSE/JSE All Share Index, at lower than market risk.
We are pleased to report another good performance this quarter - in both absolute and relative terms. Our confidence that the South African equity market is offering exceptional value has been vindicated.
As the growth story unfolds it is surprising to see that analysts. forecasts are still subdued and that companies. earnings are growing faster than their share prices are rising. These effects combined mean that the share market is still offering excellent value to investors, despite a good rise over the past 18 months.
Our diversification by economic sectors and specifically the weighting in resources helped the fund.s performance during the quarter. Our allocation to resources, while only 75% of the index weight, performed exceptionally well in the first half of this year due to superior selection. The portfolio will continue to be well diversified across economic sectors. We are currently emphasizing local economy large capitalisation stocks, because that.s where we believe the best values are available.