Top Marks For Fund Transparency

Few investment funds offer the transparency of the Goodbody Funds ICAV, the umbrella company for a number of funds operated by the Dublin broker and wealth manager, currently being courted by its former owner AIB. The ICAV company details the income and outgoings for investment funds such as the Dividend Income Cautious, Dividend Income Balanced, Global Smaller Companies, and Global Leaders.

With a combined asset value of

€340m for the seven funds in the ICAV, as of June 2020, the operation is small relative to some of mega mutual funds operated by life companies. But size doesn’t matter when it comes to generating returns.

The Dividend Income Balanced Fund has appreciated by 37% since launch in 2015 to the end of 2020. It made a poor start in 2016 to 2018, but picked up in 2019 and last year delivered a gross return of 9.6%. Equities make up two-thirds of the fund allocation, with Apple, Microsoft, Analog Devices, Stryker and Fastenal among the top picks.

Fund accounts for the half year to June 2020 disclose dividend income of €790,000 and costs of €375,000. Happily, the fund assets also delivered realised and unrealised gains of €4.3m. Four of the other funds in the Goodbody ICAV racked up investment losses in the period. Investment management fees for the half year across the seven funds totalled €810,000,

For retail investors, the Goodbody funds are available through New Ireland’s Easy Access Smart Funds suite.