Telstra Super has reported its returns for the seven months from July 2010 to 31 January, 2011, with fund chief executive Martin Crowe attributing the fund’s active management approach for its strong performance.
“Our investment history is one of very strong returns for members. These returns affirm our bias towards growth assets and our active management philosophy, with better returns to members than a passive index would provide”, Crowe said.
Telstra Super’s performance over the longer term has proved they gain value from the active approach, Crowe said.
The fund manages around 10 per cent of its assets internally across various asset classes such as Australian equities, fixed interest, private equity and direct property, along with external mandates for those classes. International equities exposure is purely through external mandates. The fund is also about 4 per cent overweight to equities compared to the average super fund, Crowe said.
The fund manages risk through a diversification of managers, manager styles and asset classes, and by staying true to its strategy was able to recover well from the global financial crisis, Crowe said.
The fund’s balanced and growth options, which account for 75 per cent of members, returned 9.76 per cent and 11.29 per cent respectively over the seven months, the fund reported.
Amongst other options, the highest returns were in the Australian shares option at 15.01 per cent, and the lowest in the conservative option at 6.47 per cent.
