Guardian Acuity Asset Management enjoys prominent growth in 2013

Friday, 28 February 2014 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Guardian Acuity Asset Management Ltd. (GAAM) experienced prominent growth in 2013 despite heavy volatility in the economy. GAAM has only been in operation for the last two years and managed to achieve a sustainable growth within the period. As a new entrant GAAM managed to establish a strong footing in the unit trust industry with an exceptional growth in the Guardian Acuity Fixed Income (GAFI) Fund which provided an annualised return of 10.11% per annum within the period January 2013 to January 2014. In the meantime GAAM managed to secure high returns on the Guardian Acuity Equity (GAE) Fund which gave a cumulative return of 29.30%, when compared with a growth in the All Share Price Index of 14.09% since inception to January 2014. GAAM commenced its operations two years ago with the objective of making Unit Trusts available to a diverse range of investors. The investors have the choice to vary their investments based on their risk appetite and the time horizons they are looking at. GAAM Fund Manager Sumith Perera explained: “Guardian Acuity equity fund offers the high risk takers an ideal platform to make investments with least involvement. With professional fund management, with an eye for superior stock selection and a highly disciplined investment process has made GA Equity Fund perform exceptionally well within the last one year. GA Equity Fund has outperformed the All Share Price Index (ASPI) by 4.92% and the S&P SL 20 by 4.66% within the period of January 2013 to January 2014. The investors enjoyed greater returns on their investments despite the relatively low performance of the overall market. Investors should also have a long term outlook on the Equity market if they are to gain better yields as they can stomach the short term volatilities.” The performance since inception was 29.30%.

“The Guardian Acuity Fixed Income Fund objective is to give investors the highest possible return by exposing the fund only to high quality instruments and issuers which are investment grade and above. Investors in the fund have received a competitive return while being able to withdraw the funds at any point in time. Previous year average return was over 12.18% (2013 Return) which is tax free, while one year treasury bills gave a comparatively lower yield after tax,” Perera added. The GAAM funds consist of Guardian Acuity Equity Fund and Guardian Acuity Fixed Income fund which have varying investment objectives. The equity fund invests in listed equities on the Colombo Stock Exchange while the fixed income fund invests in high quality corporate debt and bank deposits, with a smaller exposure to government securities which are risk free. The performance of both funds during the last year has been above the market trends and both funds continue to grow even with market uncertainties and volatility. GAAM is committed to giving better returns to the investors with the least risk and this is mainly due to the investment strategy which GAAM has adopted. The second year performance is evidence of this strategy and how it has helped GAAM to be right on top in terms of fund performance. Unit trusts give the small investor the opportunity to participate in the returns from a large diversity of financial instruments, which have been pooled together.