IFS Capital to diversify investment base
Investment and asset management company, IFS Capital Management Limited, is to diversify its investments into other sectors of the economy other than the financial sector.
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This is to insulate the company’s investments from the adverse impacts of any possible crisis of the financial sector on its investments.
The General Manager of the company, Mr Manfred K. Bressey, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that, currently, majority of companies equities were in banking institutions and the focus of the company in 2016 is to broaden the base and invest in other sectors.
“We have majority of our equity holding in banking institutions and they form the bulk of our assets. What we want to do is to diversify into other industries. We are going to buy into Total and Goil which are in the oil industry, as well as look at other industries so that when the financial industry does not do well like it did last year, we don’t get a hit for our investments,” he said.
The diversification, he said, would therefore give a broader base to the equity holders as the company tried to move away from equities investments.
“We cannot go away completely from equities but we are diversifying into the ones that have growth potential. We hope that by the end of 2016, we would have completely out-performed our performance this year,” he said.
Managing the funds
Mr Bressey said the company’s investment portfolio consisted of a diversified spread of investments in the money market.
He said on the money market front, the treasury instruments were expected to decline before they assumed stability, but that notwithstanding, the fund remained focused and would continue to ensure that the setbacks did not impact on operations or the fund.
“Richie Rich Unit Trust will continue to invest in the money market but rebalance its investments alongside the revised target allocations approved by the trustee. Mywealth fund will continue to rebalance its investments alongside the revised asset allocations targets as approved by the trustee,” he said.
He added that rebalancing the investments of the fund would reduce significantly its exposure to the equity market but keep an eye on the growth stocks while focusing principally on investible areas such as the commodities market, money market, real estate and other structured finance products for the benefit of unit holders.
Funds performance
The MyWealth Unit Trust, a balanced fund suitable for investors seeking long-term growth of capital, grew its assets by 28.53 per cent from GH¢654,561 to GH¢841,319. The funds net income was GH¢129,934 as at the end of December 2015.
The fund returned a positive yield of 14.69 per cent, while its unit holder base grew from 536 to 632 in 2015.
The Richie Rich Unit Trust, a fund for children grew from GH¢150,457 to GH¢303,941 with a yield of 14.78 per cent. Net income from operations was GH¢54,411 representing 99 per cent over 2014’s performance of GH¢27,319. The funds unit holder base in 2015 also grew by 53.98 per cent from 176 to 271 unit holders.
The Legacy Unit Trust, which is best for parents seeking to leave an inheritance for their children, also grew marginally by 1.60 per cent from GH¢523,225 to GH¢531,589. The fund, however, managed to return a positive yield of 13.73 per cent.
Net income from operations as at December 31, 2015 stood at GH¢56,292 representing 30.44 per cent increase over 2014’s performance while the unit holder base in 2015 also grew by 13.61 per cent from 147 to 167 unit holders.