Amid a bearish market ride on the back of the banking sector turmoil, Strategic African Securities (SAS) Fortune Fund Limited outpaced the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) Composite Index YTD return by 9.67% in 2018. 

The equity market, which peaked towards the end of April 2018 to return about 35% year-to-date tumbled afterwards to end the year with a negative 0.29% year-to-date return. The GSE financial index returned negative 6.79% for the same period. 

The unit price of the SAS Fortune Fund increased by GH¢0.0723 year-on-year from GH¢0.7710 in January 2018 to close at GH¢0.8433, representing a year-to-date return of 9.38% at the end of 2018. The value of the fund also increased by 53.41% to close the year at GH¢10.64 million from GH¢6.94 million at the beginning of 2018. 

The Fund Manager of the firm Anthony Degbato, disclosed this at the company’s 14th Annual General Meeting in Accra.

Mr. Degbato expressed his gratitude to the shareholders for having confidence in the company. “We are happy to say that your confidence is attracting more investors into the fund,” said Degbato.

 “Our focus will be on companies with good valuation and stable business models that return regular dividends combined with notable capital appreciation.”

The fund manager remarked that, with the economy’s expected growth of 7.5% in 2019 coupled with stable inflation projected to lie between 6-10%, the equity market is likely to advance compared to the previous year as liquidity improves following the banking sector clean-up.

The improvement in these key economic indicators, combined with a more stable exchange rate would help support private sector activity and ultimately culminate into more stable disposable income for investment.”

According to Maxwell Logan, the Board Chairman of SAS Fortune Fund Limited, 2019 is expected to produce a more favorable business environment than 2018.

“I would therefore encourage you to take advantage of this by buying more shares of SAS Fortune fund to continue to enjoy optimum benefit from your investment,” he concluded.

The objective of SAS Fortune Fund, a long-term equity mutual, is to achieve long-term capital growth for its shareholders, by investing a greater portion of its assets in companies with strong fundamentals, strong growth trends and strong income generation potential.

The fund meets its liquidity obligations by investing in short term fixed income securities.