Australia’s two-largest superannuation funds have shared their FY25-26 performance.
AustralianSuper, which has $410 billion funds under management, said it returned 9.7 per cent in the Balanced option and 11.5 per cent in the High Growth option.
Meanwhile, the $370 billion Australian Retirement Trust (ART) returned 7.9 per cent in its Balanced pool and 9.2 per cent in the High Growth pool.
This compares to 9.5 per cent last year for the Balanced option at AustralianSuper and 10.6 per cent for the High Growth option. At ART, the Balanced pool returned 11.2 per cent and the High Growth pool returned 11.9 per cent during the FY24-25.
AustralianSuper’s chief investment officer (CIO), Shaun Manuell, said the result was positive for members following a year marked by global uncertainty, changing inflation expectations and periodic market volatility.
“This is a strong result and a great outcome for members. Strong long-term performance is what makes the biggest difference to members in retirement.”
Manuell only took on the CIO role this month after the exit of Mark Delaney after 25 years.
ART CIO Ian Patrick said ART’s investment approach was deliberately focused on strong, long-term performance rather than short-term market movements.
“Over the past decade, we’ve delivered consistently strong returns for members, reflecting the discipline of our long-term investment strategy. We remain focused on a diversified strategy that aims to grow our members’ retirement savings over time.”
Portfolio contribution
AustralianSuper said the returns were helped by listed equities including exposure to AI as well as unlisted assets including private equity and private credit.
‘Artificial intelligence continued to be a major driver of global markets, with large-scale investment supporting growth and earnings across a widening group of companies. Listed equities were again among the strongest performing asset classes for AustralianSuper, with international and Australian shares benefiting from corporate earnings strength, technology investment and resilient investor sentiment.
‘Importantly, as the AI cycle matures, we are seeing the benefits broaden beyond US technology stocks and into different regions, sectors and asset classes. That has supported our active investment approach and the benefits of diversification.”
For ART, Patrick attributed the performance to global share markets as well as private markets where the fund invested an additional $12 billion including $3 billion in Australian real estate.
“This financial year, global share markets were the standout performer across all our diversified portfolios, with unlisted assets lagging globally. Our diversified portfolio benefited from the strength of listed markets, with unlisted assets remaining an important part of our long-term investment strategy.
“Unlisted assets play an important role in delivering more consistent returns over time and reducing overall portfolio risk and have been a key contributor to our long term outperformance.”
This is why I have a SMSF.