Nordea Income Growth Fund Limited, the eight best company in Ghana, according the business ranking by the Ghana Investments Promotion Council’s (GIPC) Club 100, has once again posted impressive performance in 2016 financial year with a 20.46 percent income growth compared to the negative 15.33 percent recorded by the GSE composite index.
The fund which is in its third year of operation, its financial statement for 2016 shows that, its assets grew from GH 201,699.64 in 2015 to GH 263,149.47 in 2016, representing some 30.47 percent increase in the asset base.
Net Income transferred to the Accumulated Income for 2016 was GH 61,449.83 against 2015 which the fund recorded GH 18,377.69 as the balance at the end of that year.
According to the Nordea Income Growth Fund Manager Jennifer Akpo, the fund’s investments was skewed towards the money markets due to the domestic bourse consistently recording negative returns.
“Our management had looked at our options available so as to ensure that our shareholders had better return on their investments. In 2015 and you will admit that 2016 even had also seen the domestic bourse record negative returns. Therefore, the money market was the best option to invest shareholders’ funds.
This was done in line with the fundamental policy of the Fund as being equity bias when the stock market was being bullish and fixed income bias when the stock market is bearish.,” she told the B&FT.
In terms of the assets allocation of the fund, Miss Akpo said, the fund invested heavily in the Money Market which constituted about 77.88 percent, Equity or Fixed Income represented 20.90 percent while cash constituted just 1.30 percent.
Dr. Samuel Hanson who chaired the 2nd Annual General Meeting of the fund, reading the board chairpersons address said, “Even though the GSE Composite Index recorded a loss of 15.33 percent in the year under review with a lot of external challenges, the fund returned a year-to-date of 20.46 percent, placing it among the top ten ranking of balanced funds being managed in the country’s industry.”
The closing price of the Nordea Income Growth Fund for 2016 was 0.2749, which Dr. Hanson said is know mean an achievement on the part of the management of the fund.
The Nordea Income Growth Fund is a well-diversified blend of fixed income and equity market securities, uniquely balanced to provide optimum returns for its shareholders.
The fund invests primarily in Ghanaian equities, bonds and money market instruments with its equity exposure limited to 50% of the assets of the portfolio.
It is also suitable for investors who are seeking defensive investment solutions that allow for the building up of medium to long-term capital but with a low tolerance for the volatility of returns associated with 100% equity investing.
