The markets took no prisoners during August, with the competitors in the Rehab Great Investment Race feeling the pressure like other investors. The overall Rehab fund weakened by slightly more than €2,000 over the month, but, happily, was still up by 1.9 per cent on its launch.
The top prize in August went to Hibernian Investment Managers (HIM), where Mr Roy Asher, presided over a 3.9 per cent monthly gain. This lifted HIM from fifth to third place in the overall rankings.
The performance was based on holdings in CRH, UK housebuilder Westbury and Hong Kong-based diversified trading company Jardine Matheson.
While CRH was mostly flat over the period, Mr Asher did well on Jardine Matheson and, at the start of the month, on Westbury. His next big date will be Westbury's results in early October.
Second-best last month was Montgomery Oppenheim, which notched up a gain of 0.6 per cent by steering clear of trading. This secured the firm's position at second place in the overall race.
Fund manager Mr Richard Dunn maintained a position in Swiss pharmaceutical group, Novartis, into September, but was holding more than two-thirds of his allocation in cash as the month turned.
Setanta took third place in August, with a monthly return of 0.5 per cent. Fund manager Mr James McSweeney went into the month fully-invested, and lost some ground as markets sold off sharply over the first week of August. He regained most of this as the month progressed, adding to his holding in CRH along the way. He also bought some Axa to replace an earlier position in Bank of Ireland. He held this, as well as CRH, Allianz and DCC into September. Setanta is holding fourth place in the overall rankings.
The fourth spot in August was filled by Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM), where Mr Chris Reilly stayed true to form by maintaining a full investment in CRH. The holding saw his allocation shed 0.1 per cent but this was was not enough to knock BIAM off the top spot. The firm remains ahead of the pack after three months with a 7 per cent overall return. Mr Reilly still sees appeal in CRH, which posted solid first-half results last week.
Standard Life was a similarly quiet trader in August, with Mr Tony Hood, maintaining an almost fully-invested position in Marks & Spencer (M&S). He has been hanging on to M&S in advance of more news on the firm's plan to return £2.3 billion (€3.4 billion) to shareholders.
Standard Life shed 0.8 per cent in August, leaving the firm with in sixth overall position with a slightly negative return.
Taking sixth place last month was Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), where Mr Séamus Magner was one of the race's most active traders. Mr Magner said he bought into "special situations" such as leatherware maker, Coach's entry into the S&P 500. He lost some money on Nokia, but gained on National Grid, which he retained, along with a substantial cash position, into September. ILIM's allocation lost 1.57 per cent in August, leaving the firm at seventh overall .
AIB Investment Managers (AIBIM) took seventh place in August with a 4.8 per cent monthly decline. The fall, which pushed AIB down from third to fifth in the overall rankings, was due in part to weakness in the firm's holding of Hong Kong consumer goods firm, Li & Fung.
AIBIM's Mr Lance Graham said he still believed in the stock, however, holding it into September along with VNU and Sandisk among others.
