SIFT unit trust rises
The Stanbic Income Trust Fund (SIFT), a unit trust, rose by 24 per cent in value from GH ¢3.8million in 2011 to GH¢4.7million in 2012.
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That, according to the fund managed by Stanbic Investment Management Services (SIMS), provides a real value for its clients.
Announcing the performance of the fund at the second Annual General Meeting of SIFT, Portfolio Manager at SIMS, Mr Kwabena Boamah, said despite a minor drop in the fund’s net returns from 20 per cent in 2011 to 16 per cent in 2012, the fund had outperformed its benchmarks over a two-year period by cumulatively returning 39.5 per cent.
“Given the Fund’s long-term outlook it underperformed the 91-Day Bill while providing more return than the one-year and two-year notes,” he said.
The breakdown in the asset distribution at year end 2012 was GH¢3.2million in bonds, GH¢0.2 million in equities, GH¢1.1 million in fixed deposits and GH¢0.2million in treasury bills.
Presenting the outlook for the year 2013, the Portfolio Manager told the gathering that due to some economic factors, the fund would maintain the generating strategy planning it adopted in 2012.
“The year 2013 appears to be a difficult one for the government since public sector salaries and wages, already consuming about 70 per cent of total government revenues, remain an albatross on the government expenditure,” he said.
Mr Boamah said additional pressure would be placed on the government purse as public sector agitations on the single spine salary structure implementation continued.
Against this backdrop, he said it was expected that the government would take measures to correct the macroeconomic deficiencies and these measures may slow down economic activity.
“Thus this year, the strategy of playing along the yield curve, identifying appropriately priced fixed income securities and diversifying the fund’s investment base will be maintained in order to create long term value for our valued unit holders,” he said.
The meeting later adopted the reports of the fund manager, trustees, and auditors and adopted the Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2012-
By Charles Benoni Okine