KUALA LUMPUR, 30 March 2022 – Kenanga Investors Berhad received a total of five awards at the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards Malaysia 2022 (“the Awards”). The fund house won the overall best Mixed Asset Group Provident award for the third time. Accompanying this were individual fund wins awarded to:
- Kenanga Growth Fund (“KGF”) for best Equity Malaysia Fund over 10 Years
- Kenanga Malaysian Inc Fund (“KMIF”) for best Equity Malaysia Diversified over 3 Years
- Kenanga Growth Opportunities Fund (“KGOF”) for best Equity Malaysia Small & Mid Cap over 5 Years
- Kenanga Diversified Fund (“KDF”) for best Mixed Asset MYR Flexible over 10 Years
“Despite yet another volatile year, Kenanga Investors was able to deliver outperformance against the prolonged market turbulence related to the haze of political uncertainty and the re-imposition of stricter nationwide containment measures towards the end of the second quarter. Throughout 2021, our investments in technology & manufacturing companies locally yielded good results. These companies, which are mostly involved in the global semi-conductor supply chain, benefited from rising global demand for electronics as more people worked from home in addition to the long-term structural drivers for this industry. We employed a barbell strategy focused on structural themes and cyclicals which gave us a competitive edge since it allows us to focus on long-term performance, especially over three, five, and ten-year periods,” says Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Commenting on KGF’s win, De Alwis says “We are pleased to have KGF recognised for its stellar 10-year performance within the Malaysian equities space. This is also the 5th year KGF has won at the Awards. Since inception, the Fund has delivered a performance return of 522.34%* against the FBM KLCI’s 64.41%, achieving its stated objective to provide long-term capital growth.”
Going forward, the fund house will continue to favour sectors with more resilient earnings. “We will remain positive on both secular growth tech companies and certain value/cyclical sectors such as tourism, travel, consumer, property and financials. We are of the opinion that the tech development theme has room to run, with many structural growth areas such as virtual reality, electric vehicles, AI/machine learning, 5G and IoT,” he says.
De Alwis also notes that Kenanga Investors’ intention to support the Malaysian ESG landscape will take on a structured approach in 2022. “Impact investing entails going beyond merely investing in non-profits and social enterprises. In order to establish this strategy as a mainstream approach within the industry, we are prepared to actively seek out and collaborate with regulators and corporate partners to grow the local green economy. Our focus will also be on integrating ESG considerations at all levels of our organisation which will include firm-wide, product, and stock-level,” De Alwis explains.
As at 31 December 2021, KGF delivered returns of 14.37% (1-year), 41.32%* (3-years), 45.67%* (5- years) and 177.35% (10-years). For the same period, KMIF’s returns stood at 10.02% (1-year), 66.73% (3- years), 74.81% (5-years) and 157.13% (10-years) while KDF’s returns came in at 5.98 (1-year), 56.07%* (3-years), 73.86%* (5- years) and 139.82% (10-years). KGOF delivered returns of 3.07% (1-year), 106.83%* (3-years), 67.01%* (5- years) and 143.37% (10-years).
For more information about Kenanga Investors, please visit www.kenangainvestors.com.my
Fund performance data is as at 31 December 2021, by Lipper Investment Analytics.
