Ben Griffiths joins several industry counterparts in a discussion about the earnings outlook, the market direction and what impacts Chinese monetary tightening will have on local stocks. “Our market will continue to benefit from the backdrop of buoyant markets” Ben suggests.
Medium-Term Value for the Disciplined
Smart Money - 20 Stocks to fire your portfolio for 2010
Ben Griffiths, Portfolio Manager at Eley Griffiths Group participates in an Australian Financial Review roundtable to discuss key stock picks for the year ahead. Ben nominates Horizon Oil (HZN) as a stock that is likely to trade higher over the next 12 months. He highlights the companies cash flow from the newly commissioned Maari Oilfield in New Zealand as a key catalyst for a re-rating in the short-term. Unlike other junior oils Horizon will have a cash position that allows development of its assets in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea and in the Beibu Gulf of China which should also deliver value to shareholders who are looking for returns over the longer-term.
Everything looks good, but risk still lurks...
Brian Eley participates in a round table offering his views on the year ahead.
Brian expects most sectors to stage an earning recovery in particular miners and mining services.
Huntley's Your Money Weekly
This months Huntley’s Your Money Weekly contains a Managed Funds report for 2010 where the Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund is Favourably reviewed by Morningstar.
The full report can be found on the above link.
The Top Gun Funds Ready to Deliver
Bina Brown writes that fund managers might be breathing a sigh of relief that the worst of the GFC has passed but advises most won’t be sitting on their laurels. Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund is included amongst the ‘Magnificent Seven’ and Ben Griffiths talks a little about process and the market we’re in.
Best of the Best 2010
Eley Griffiths Group has taken out the gold award for the ‘Best Small Companies Fund Manager’ for 2009.
Commenting on the award, Ben Griffiths offered “To have navigated the market this past 12 months was as hard as it gets for a professional money manager and to pick up an accolade like this is very satisfying”.
S&P 2009 Fund Manager Awards
Standard and Poor’s today announced that Eley Griffiths Group had been awarded Australian Equities – Small Cap Manager for 2009.
This is the 6th year of the awards and they have come to be accepted as one of the industry’s benchmark annual awards.
Separately, the Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund was a finalist in the Australian Fund Manager Awards Small Companies category held in Sydney last night.
S&P Fund Awards
Eley Griffiths Group has been nominated for the best Small Cap Fund Manager in the forthcoming 2009 S&P Fund Awards.
The winner will be announced in Sydney on Friday the 30th October 2009.
Only the Skilful Survive
IFA magazine spoke with Ben and Brian in their manager spotlight column. In the interview the pair talk about the ‘new’ market landscape and what it means for boutiques like Eley Griffiths Group. The importance of experience and a solid investment process was central to the article.
2008 Australian Fund Managers Awards
Eley Griffiths Group was awarded the Linwar Securities Small Company Fund Manager award for 2008. Ben Griffiths accepted the award on behalf of the team and remarked that “it is a thrill to win the award and to receive recognition from industry peers”.
AFR Round Table October 2008
Ben Griffiths talks with Peter Webb and others in an Australian Financial Review Round Table.
Ben suggests the recent lows seen in the stock market maybe safe for sometime but stresses the importance of offshore share market stability and a slowing in the rate of earnings downgrades…
EGG Wins Financial Review Smart Investor Blue Ribbon Award
Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund has won the coveted 2008 category – Australian Small-Cap Shares.
The Awards have been running for 8 years and “recognise the pinnacle of achievement in the Australian business community”.
Australian Financial Review Smart Money
In the weekend Australian Financial Review Ben Griffiths joined other fund managers for a Smart Money discussion on the oil price and where energy markets are heading.
Morningstar Review - April 2008
2008 AFR Small Cap Market Wrap
Ben Griffiths speaks with Gabriella Hold of the Australian Financial Review about what drove smaller companies in 2007 and what the outlook in 2008 holds for the Small Ordinaries Index.
Small mining companies and those providing services therein were prominent performers in 2007 but the earnings picture for the sector will be of critical importance for these stocks moving forward….
2007 Australian Fund Manager Awards
The Four Seasons Hotel Sydney was the venue for the annual Australian Fund Managers Awards last night and Eley Griffiths Group featured in two important awards.
We were finalists in the Small Cap Manager of the Year award and portfolio manager Ben Griffiths won the revered Ranan Lubinsky Most Colourful Character Award.
Ben remarked today of the award “It is a great thrill to receive an award in Ranan’s honour and to be acknowledged by peers for your contribution to the industry is truly satisfyingâ€.
2007 AFR Smart Investor Awards
The 2007 Australian Financial Review Smart Investor awards were held last night in Sydney.
Eley Griffiths Group finished amongst the three finalists for the Best Australian Small Cap Manager.
Ben Griffiths attending the evening acknowledged the awards as “an important recognition of hard work and dedication to performance” from a well regarded financial periodical.
Bullishness Tempered
“Small companies delivered a fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth in 2006, and the Small Ordinaries Index added 29%.â€
The article is a broad ranging interview of the Small Companies landscape, inquiring on the investment managers’ outlook for not only for the direction of the index, but individual sectors and stock specific stories.
The main question is can the Small Ordinaries Index deliver a fifth consecutive year of double digit growth in 2007.
The Best of the Best 2007
At the start of December, Money Magazine awarded Eley Griffiths Group the Silver Winner of the Best of the Best for 2007 Best Small Companies Fund.
The Best of the Best awards are announced annually and are now into their sixth year.
Happy Returns
Under ‘Super and Funds’ in the Money section of the SMH journalist John Collett featured the Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund. The article was penned in recognition of the fund’s good performance over the June quarter and the recent ‘highly recommended’ rating from research house Lonsec. The fund returned +2.3% versus its benchmark down -1.95% for the June quarter. John Collett revealed that the fund held substantial positions in ‘Australian Worldwide Exploration, United Group and Silex Systems, three of the top ten performing small companies stocks over the period’
John Collett has taken the view that ‘Eley Griffiths Group continues to show it is one of the best managers of small companies funds’ with ‘a dollar invested at the fund’s inception in 2003 worth $2 as at June 30 this year, a return of 100%’.
The article went on to highlight that the portfolio managers had become concerned with the price of resource stocks and reduced the fund’s exposure to the sector in April. However the fund maintained its position in oil stocks with the oil price proving more resilient.
In its report Lonsec said Eley Griffiths Group’s combination of quality process, experience and ownership by staff all support the manager’s small cap capabilities.
Small But Perfectly Performed
They’re not in the top 100 but these shares are pulling above their weight
“Small listed companies, like their larger cousins, have been going great guns, thanks to the strength of the Australian economy and the energy and minerals boom.”
The article goes on to highlight that over the last three years the Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index has produced an average annual return of almost 30%. The article states that small companies are less covered by analysts than big stocks this creates more opportunities for fund managers to uncover underpriced shares.
The table of small company fund returns for the year to February 28, 2006 shows Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund returning 24.50%
Did you pick one of the five biggest hits?
Smart Investor Magazine asked various commentators to pick their best sharemarket investment of the past five years. Ben Griffiths Portfolio Manager at Eley Griffiths Group named Ramsay Healthcare as the firm’s top pick.
“We invested in Ramsay in 2000 when it was trading in the 80-90 cent range. We felt more favourable legislation would prompt a recovery in the number of privately insured patients. Ramsay is an excellent hospital manager and is now trading in excess of $9 a share.
The outlook for the private hospital sector remains favourable, with an ageing but increasingly affluent population. Ramsay now has the largest private hospital network in the country and offers excellent scope for value addition.”
Interrogation
Ben Griffiths, portfolio manager at Eley Griffiths Group recently completed an Australian Financial Review interrogation with Richard Hemming. In the article Ben provides information about the Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund. Highlights from the article are as follows;
1) Name your best and worst calls?
The best call this year has been Cabcharge Limited. A combination of new technology rollout and cost control has seen the stock re-rated by +56% in the past 12 months. Our worst call was Integrated Group, which failed to implement management systems to cope with strong growth and buoyant industry conditions, leading to a sell off.
2. If I had invested $10,000 in your fund
a) three months ago
b) one year ago
c) three years ago
What would it be worth now net of fees?
a) $10,739
b) $12,229
c) No three-year number, but two years: $16,368
3. What do your independent researchers think of you?
We have a ‘highly recommended’ rating from Lonsec, ‘highly recommended’ from Zenith, Four Stars from ASSIRT and a ‘recommended’ rating from Morningstar.
Advisers Warn it's time to tread carefully
Brian Eley, portfolio Manager at Eley Griffiths Group discusses the current state of the small cap market with Eli Greenblat from the Australian Financial Review.
Initially, the article runs through how the small cap index has grown in recent times, pointing out that investment in small caps has increased from $420 Million in 2000 to over $2Billion in 2004-2005.
The article moves on to discuss the current state of the small cap market with Brian Eley. Brian goes on to say that there are ‘pockets of overvaluation’ in the small cap space but that the index is ‘not generally overvalued’. Brian highlights that company’s with exposure to consumer spending are at risk coming into the crucial Christmas trading period. He also states that company’s with limited ability to pass on higher input costs are exposed to greater risk given the current rising input cost environment.
Brian concludes by stating that the investment team of the Eley Griffiths Group Small Companies Fund let the cash weighting build on the back of what appeared to be inflated stock prices in the September quarter. Since the October pull back, the investment team had been re-investing surplus funds into areas that offered value.