Good stock picking and hard work have paid off for Value Partners in the three-year Hong Kong equity category, according to managing director Cheah Cheng Hye.
His Value Partners A Fund achieved a positive return for each of the past three years: 21 per cent last year, 46 per cent in 2001 and 10 per cent in 2000, while the Hang Seng index fell by 16 per cent, 24 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
The Value Partners A fund won the three-year Hong Kong equity category and another fund managed by Mr Cheah, as chief investment officer under the Manulife brand, won in the Equity Greater China category. The fund is the Manulife GF China Value fund.
Manulife also won an award in the European emerging markets equity sector over three years.
Mr Cheah says the three-year award for his company is due to a major effort by his team of five fund managers and six other investment professionals.
'The full-time job of our analysts and dealers is basically looking for new ideas. We got it right in a number of ways. One is our emphasis on high-dividend stocks. In an environment of deflation and declining interest rates, those dividends came into big demand and we benefited accordingly,'' Mr Cheah says.
Companies held by the Value Partners A Fund carry an average dividend yield of about 5 per cent compared with the market average of 3.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent.