Platinum Portfolios Global is a Mauritius-based fund management company with a focus on managing money exclusively for the private client. The company made the news recently when its Platinum Global Managed Fund was awarded a Raging Bull for the Best (FSCA-approved) Offshore Global Asset Allocation Fund on a risk-adjusted basis over five years to 31 December 2019 – a clear reflection of the fund’s outstanding performance since it was launched on 28 May 2013.
The Platinum Global Managed Fund is authorised by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission as a collective investment Scheme of class B and is also an FSCA-approved fund in South Africa. The fund performance is top quartile of its Morningstar sector (USD Aggressive Allocation funds) over one, three and five years.
According to Charolyn Pedlar, Director at Platinum Portfolios Global, “The primary investment objective of the fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation through investment in a diversified range of global asset classes. The manager will seek to outperform the US-dollar-based return on the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index over a three-to-five-year period with reduced risk.”
Pedlar states that the Platinum Global fund has a flexible mandate and can invest in a wide range of asset classes and currencies, including global equities, global property, global fixed income and money market instruments. Managers have maximum flexibility to vary investments between the asset classes.
“The fund’s investment strategy is to invest in good-quality businesses for the long term. We consider quality businesses to be those that have a durable competitive advantage, or moat, that protects them against their competitors, and allows them to earn high returns on capital over the long term. We also look for companies that have good cash flows, manageable debt levels, are resilient to disruptors and pay attractive, growing dividends. Once we have identified these great businesses, we will patiently wait to buy them well under their fair value price which gives us a margin of safety. Delivering good risk-adjusted returns is an important aspect of the fund’s investment philosophy,” comments Pedlar.
The year 2019 was a good one for Platinum Portfolios Global. Pedlar remarks, “None of the companies that we owned had a negative return for the year. We believe that our disciplined investment process, risk management strategies and stock picking was what allowed us to deliver good returns to our investors. Our IT stocks were the top performers in 2019. Apple was the star performer and was up well over 100% for the year. Apple’s performance once again proved that great businesses with good management will continue to deliver and surprise investors.
“The company’s revenue composition changed noticeably in 2019. As smartphone sales struggled throughout the year in important markets like China, two of their business segments, wearables and services, stepped up to the plate and picked up the slack. The Apple Air Pods demand surprised the market – the company sold over 60-million this year and it is estimated to sell over 100-million in 2020.
“The Air Pods sales coupled with a strong update from Apple on the revenue generated from its apps has reduced the company’s reliance on hardware sales even further. The company’s sticky ecosystem remains strong, and the company’s success in the wearable segment of hardware proves that it still has its finger on the consumer’s pulse.”
Going into 2020, Pedlar expects to see continued uncertainty in the global economic environment which will result in markets being more vulnerable and volatile in 2020.
“We will maintain a conservative asset allocation position in the fund. In our view, a well-diversified portfolio focused on quality companies that pay a high dividend is likely to continue to prove more resilient in difficult markets,” concludes Pedlar.
By Charolyn Pedlar, Director at Platinum Portfolios Global.
