In a recent article, I hinted that Nigerian fund managers did better than their Western contemporaries and as such deserved some praise. In the same article, I cautioned that all the data for mutual funds were not in and as such I could not definitively say if mutual fund managers, like their pension fund peers, did good in 2018. I did, however, point out that going by the year to date return generated by mutual funds as at the end of November, it looked like the fixed income fund managers were able to generate some good gains.
Now the data are in and that prediction seems to have come true, at least, in part. According to data released by the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC and analysed by Quantitative Financial Analytics, Nigerian mutual funds generated an estimated gain of N1.9 billion in 2018, to bring its total Net Asset Value to N648.2 billion. The analysis reveals that inspite of the huge withdrawals in the month of November and the lackluster performance of the equity market, Nigerian mutual fund managers took in a whopping N386 billion of new money in 2018 while seeing about N165 billion of outflows in the form of total withdrawals for the year. So, the interplay of the beginning Net Asset Value of N426 billion, the total estimated subscription of N386 billion, the withdrawal of N165 billion and the estimated gain of N1.9 billion resulted in the 2018 ending total Net Asset Value of N648 billion which represents a 52.3% increase.
The huge inflow underscores the fact that investors are still interested in mutual funds, especially money market funds which took in most of the new inflows.
New Funds Added to the List
Within the year under review, the NAV Summary Report by the Security and Exchange Commission shows that 8 new funds were added to the number of existing mutual funds in Nigeria. The 8 include Afrinvest Plutus Fund, AIICO Balanced Fund, Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund, Cordros Milestone Fund 2023, Cordros Milestone Fund 2028, Legacy USD Bond Fund, Nigeria Entertainment Fund and Zenith Money Market Fund. Together, those 8 added about N29.5 billion to the total Net asset value and helped to bring the total number of mutual funds being tracked on the SEC NAV Summary Report to 90.
Top Gainers in Money Terms
The top gainers in monetary terms are as follows:
Highest Gainer Fund: Stanbic IBTC Absolute Fund
Estimated Gain: N1.5 billion
Second Highest Gainer Fund: Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Income Fund
Estimated Gain: N0.81 billion
Third Highest Gainer Fund: Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund
Estimated Gain: N0.317 billion
Forth Highest Gainer Fund: Coral Income Fund
Estimated Gain: N0.313 billion
Fifth Highest Gainer Fund: FBN Fixed Income Fund
Estimated Gain: N0.304 billion
Sixth Highest Gainer Fund: SFS Fixed Income Fund
Estimated Gain: N0.25 billion
Given that investment performance is better assessed using percentage returns I present below the 2018 fund ranking in percentage terms:
First Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: SFS Fixed Income Fund
Fund Type: Fixed Income/Debt Fund
YTD Performance %: 15.54%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.23 per unit
Fund Manager: SFS Capital Ltd.
Second Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Nigeria International Debt Fund
Fund Type: Fixed Income/Debt Fund
YTD Performance %: 15.2%
YTD Gain per unit: N36.08 per unit
Fund Manager: Afrinvest Asset Management.
3rd Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Stanbic IBTC Absolute Fund
Fund Type: Money Market/Umbrella Fund
YTD Performance %: 14.16%
YTD Gain per unit: N404.62 per unit
Fund Manager: Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Ltd
4th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Lead Fixed Income Fund
Fund Type: Fixed Income/Debt Fund
YTD Performance %: 13.49%
YTD Gain per unit: N15.93 per unit
Fund Manager: Lead Asset Management Ltd
5th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Income Fund
Fund Type: Income Fund
YTD Performance %: 12.17%
YTD Gain per unit: N26.8 per unit
Fund Manager: Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Ltd
6th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Coral Income Fund
Fund Type: Income Fund
YTD Performance %: 11.75%
YTD Gain per unit: N290.12 per unit
Fund Manager: FSDH Asset Management Ltd
7th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: PACAM Fixed Income Fund
Fund Type: Income Fund
YTD Performance %: 10.48%
YTD Gain per unit: N1.16 per unit
Fund Manager: PAC Asset Management Ltd
8th Best Performing Fund
Name of Fund: Coronation Fixed Income Fund
Fund Type: Income Fund
YTD Performance %: 10.38%
YTD Gain per unit: N0.11 per unit
Fund Manager: Coronation Asset Management Ltd
For a complete list of Retiree fund performance, contact Quantitative Financial Analytics Ltd
