Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Nedgroup, NFB scoop top Morningstar awards
Research group recognises funds that have added value for investors in relation to their peers
AT A gala dinner at Kelvin Grove in Cape Town this week, Morningstar Research, a subsidiary of international investment services group Morningstar, announced the winners of its 2019 SA Fund Awards.
The annual Morningstar SA Fund Awards “recognise funds and fund houses that added the most value for investors within the context of their relevant peer group in 2018 and over longer time periods”.
Tal Nieburg, the managing director of Morningstar South Africa, said: “The winners of this year’s South Africa Fund Awards demonstrate there are still opportunities for patient investors despite slow domestic growth and trade risks affecting global emerging markets. The winning funds and fund houses relied on skill, experience and solid fund management strategies to deliver strong returns for investors.”
While the Morningstar awards are similar to the annual Raging
Bull Awards, hosted by Personal Finance, in that they honour active performance by unit trust fund managers, there are some important differences, as shown in the table below.
The most important of these is that although risk-adjusted returns over longer periods are taken into account, greater emphasis is given to a fund’s returns over a single year.
Nedgroup Investments was awarded the key award of the evening, namely the Best Fund House, Larger Fund Range. This follows last month’s announcement that Nedgroup Investments was the Offshore Management Company of the Year for the fourth year in a row at the Raging Bull Awards.
Nic Andrew, the executive head of Nedgroup Investments, said: “We are very proud of these awards. These rankings measure the risk-adjusted performance of the entire range over the medium term and they are therefore a reasonable proxy for our investors’ experience. It is also particularly pleasing to see the consistency of this performance.”