Sirius Opportunity Fund posts 27.6 per cent yield
Sirius Opportunity Fund, an open-ended money market mutual fund, has recorded an annualised yield of 27.64 per cent, well above the benchmark one-year treasury bill rate which averaged 23 per cent for last year.
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The share price also maintained a steady growth throughout the period under review until it closed the year with a price per share of 0.8881.
Addressing the third annual general meeting of the fund, a member of the Board of Directors, Mr Michael Mba Allan, said the performance outlook of the fund for 2016 remained positive.
Revenue of the fund grew to GH¢239,927 in December 2015 after ending 2014 at GH¢158,037.
This represented a 51 per cent rise within the 12-month period.
Mr Allan said although 2015 was characterised by challenges in the general economy, the fund continued to perform incredibly well. The fund’s assets rose to GH¢1.4 million, representing over 50 per cent rise over the 2014 figure of GH¢910,734.
The director said the total number of clients on the fund as of the end of 2015 was 1,205, about 19 per cent increase.
He explained that the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the fund started at 0.69588 but enjoyed an average month-on-month growth rate of 2.06 per cent in 2015, with the month of February recording the least growth rate of 1.65 per cent. December saw the highest growth rate of 2.86 per cent.
As of December 2015, there were 27 mutual funds and 18 unit trusts licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mutual funds and unit trusts are often a well sought after investment tools because of their versatility and flexibility.
Direct Debit
Mr Allan said it would maintain a cautious approach to grow its direct debit platform and prune it of inactive clients.
“The fund believes this payment option, if well utilised, is the best way to mobilise funds from clients. The biggest challenges faced is the number of returned funds and the reason for most of this is insufficient funds in client accounts,” he said.
In 2015, the Fund started a project to deactivate the clients on the direct debit platform whose transactions have been inactive for more than three months.
According to him, this led to a decrease in the direct debit clients but helped it to reduce the charges on the fund. For the year under review, the total direct debit transactions recorded was GH¢232,672 out of this GH¢119,440 was returned.
The total charges including COT, VAT and commissions was GH¢3,195.
“The fund would continue to trim down the number of clients on the direct debit platform whose transactions have been inactive to ensure that at least 95 per cent of clients do not have returned funds,” he indicated.
Outlook
Going forward, Mr Allan said the fund would look at minimising risks and investing in high-yielding, medium to long-term securities that would offer the best returns to clients.
He expressed confidence in the ability of the board, management and staff to deliver what he described as “a high standard of discipline, executive and conduct in 2016 in order to successfully sail through turbulent times.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Sirius Capital Limited, Mr Franklin Benefo, lauded the performance of the fund and encouraged shareholders to invest more to secure their financial future.