FOORD BALANCED FUND PLACED 1ST OVER 5 YEARS

The Foord Balanced Fund is placed 1st out of 18 comparable funds over five years in ASISA’s Prudential Variable Equity sector.  The sector houses the flagship Regulation 28 compliant balanced funds of all the major fund managers.

The achievement is notable because this five year period has spanned aggressive bull and bear markets.  The first three years of the five year cycle encompassed the last three years of one of the strongest bull markets on the local bourse.  However, during the last two years of the five year cycle, markets have been in a bear phase born out of the U.S. banking crisis.

Investors may recall that the global bull market following the 2001 recession peaked in late 2007, when we witnessed the first emerging signs of the “sub-prime” crisis.  At the time, markets interpreted the sub-prime crisis as a localised U.S. phenomenon.  World equity markets then steadily declined until the collapse of Lehman Brothers sparked a massive market crash which ultimately saw global equity markets shed nearly 60% of their late 2007 values.  Markets have recovered but only to their 2005 levels.

Achieving a first place result over this period bears testimony to investment philosophy of Foord.  Our philosophy is foremost to preserve the capital of clients but to also capture inflation-beating growth during times when the risk of loss is low or moderate.