BIAM consolidates grip on lead ahead of final month's trade

With just one month left to run on the Rehab Great Investment Race, the charity's pot of money was in excellent shape at the end of September, despite being threatened by some unhelpful market movements.

Gains of €212,000 were in place as the month closed, with Bank of Ireland Asset Management's (BIAM's) Mr Chris Reilly once again the star performer.

Mr Reilly has so far notched up growth of 153.6 per cent in his original €100,000 allocation, with most of the gain attributable to his risky one-stock strategy.

Investment in McInerney alone delivered growth of 25.6 per cent for Mr Reilly in September. Looking to the longer term, he still believes the stock is undervalued but has decided that the time for risking Rehab's return has passed. As October began, Mr Reilly moved to consolidate all his gains in cash.

"Undoubtedly we did run a huge risk which might not have worked out," said Mr Reilly, adding that it was "nice to have done well".

In second place on the monthly table in September was Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), where fund manager Mr Séamus Magner realised a gain of 16 per cent. The return, which pushed ILIM from fifth to second place in the overall rankings, came on relatively active trade.

"A number of great opportunities arose and I took advantage of them", said Mr Magner. He traded in stocks including AIB, Kingspan and Bank of Ireland over the month, making a particularly good gain on the latter by selling before the bank issued its trading statement. A brief foray into French futures also delivered gains.

Elsewhere in the race, the negative face of the markets was in evidence, with all but one of the remaining four players seeing their funds decline in September.

The exception - Hibernian Investment Managers (HIM) - came on a relatively hands-off strategy, with HIM's allocation invested entirely in cash for the month. The company was holding on to fourth place in the overall rankings as October began.

The next "best" performance last month came from Setanta Asset Management, where Mr Gary Connolly recorded a monthly loss of 3.8 per cent. The performance leaves Setanta's overall allocation underwater by 8.1 per cent.

Mr Connolly said he was resigned to last place in the race, but added that he was willing to take some risks this month in a last-ditch effort to get the fund into the black. The company entered October with a large proportion of its fund in cash.

Montgomery Oppenheim slipped from second to third position in September, punished by a 4.4 per cent monthly decline in its allocation. The company's fund remains 21 per cent ahead in overall terms however, and fund manager Mr Séamus Kelly was in optimistic mood as October began. He did not perform any trades last month, and suffered losses from holdings in Alliance & Leicester, Bank of Ireland and ABB.

The company held the majority of its allocation in a global equity fund as the month turned, with the remainder spread across four individual stocks and some cash.

At the bottom of the monthly table in September was KBC Asset Management, where Mr Noel O'Halloran saw his allocation fall by 5.6 per cent and his place in the overall table slip from third to fifth.

Mr O'Halloran said investments in US and Asian equities had led to negative returns, with the declines exacerbated by dollar weakness. He was hopeful of winning back the losses this month, however, with his fund fully invested as October kicked off. "It's all to play for," he said.