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Citrus Analysis: Handsome returns for risks borne
Mon, Sep 24, 2012
Source : Sanjay Kumar Singh, Citrus Interactive

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses is run as a multi-cap fund. Based on current portfolio allocation it falls in the mid- and small-cap growth fund category. Currently it has assets under management worth Rs 588.50 crore. The fund was started in September 2004 and is benchmarked against the BSE 500 Index.

Investment and risk characteristics

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses Fund has three basic risk characteristics: one, it is benchmark agnostic in the sense it does not run any minimum benchmark coverage target. This makes it more volatile than the benchmark.

Two, it is a concentrated portfolio focused on high-conviction ideas. Hence, it has no market-cap bias but has tended to be skewed towards mid- and small-cap stocks, one, due to the sheer size of the population available in this space, and two, the price-value arbitrage available because these stocks are not covered as rigorously as large caps.  

Three, on account of its higher tilt towards the mid- and small-cap space, liquidity risks are technically higher. To offset this, between 20-25 per cent of the portfolio is put into pure large caps (including cash, which has an upper ceiling of 10 per cent).

Elaborating on the mid-cap investment strategy, fund manager R Srinivasan says: "The mid-cap-strategy takes into account five factors: one, a ‘right to win’ or some kind of a core competency defined objectively in terms of, say, market share, brand franchise, gross margins or technological edge; two, return on capital, which must be generated consistently over a period of time; three, growth expectation, because you don’t want to end up with single-digit returns in a growth market like India; four, management capabilities and integrity; and, fifth but not the least, valuations. We try to combine these five factors and make a buy decision depending on the relative intensity of each factor."

Unlike most funds in the mid- and small-cap category, this fund currently has a higher allocation to small-cap stocks than to mid-cap stocks, which probably makes it riskier. In response, the fund manager says: “If you put it that way, I guess it does. But that’s just one way to look at it. I don’t think you can put all small- or mid-caps into one homogenous basket with similar risk characteristics. There are companies in this space with a strong franchise, robust business model and cash flows. Also, we advocate a minimum investment horizon of three years. Hence, risk as defined by volatility does fall meaningfully over time.” In other words, the fund tries to reduce risk by investing with a three-year perspective and by opting for quality stocks.

Elaborating further on the fund’s approach towards risk, the fund manager says: “We do not manage risk as defined in the traditional sense of the word. So, this fund does happen to be benchmark agnostic, sector agnostic and is fairly concentrated.”

The fund has a pure bottom-up approach to stock picking. Says Srinivasan: “Risk in this fund is essentially the probability of going wrong on stock picks.”

Fund performance

Scheme

YTD

1-yr

3-yr

5-yr

Since inception

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses(G)

25.08

13.64

20.67

7.53

22.25

BSE-500

14.77

2.24

3.14

2.19

--

All figures in %; as on August 31, 2012

The fund has had a very good year so far. It is up 25.08 per cent (till August 31) whereas its benchmark is up only 14.77 per cent. The fund has also beaten its benchmark over the one-, three-, and five-year horizons. Since its inception eight years ago it has given its investors an attractive return of 22.25 per cent compounded annually.

Scheme

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses(G) (%)

-10.36

33.08

103.28

-68.68

64.46

BSE-500 (%)

-27.78

16.35

85.34

-58.47

63.02

Out/under performance (%age pts.)

17.42

16.73

17.94

-10.21

1.44

The fund has beaten its benchmark in four of the last five calendar years. The only year in which it failed to beat its benchmark was 2008, when it lagged behind by 10.1 percentage points.

As for providing downside protection in declining markets, the fund beat its benchmark in 2011 but fared worse in 2008. 

The fund's best performance was in 2009 when it rose 103.28 per cent, beating its benchmark by a considerable margin of 17.94 percentage points. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 its margin of outperformance vis-a-vis its benchmark has been remarkable.

According to the fund manager, “The philosophy of the fund focuses on absolute returns for a substantial portion of the portfolio. So, I guess the fact that markets have been range bound (at least in 2010 and 2011) probably helped in terms of relative returns. More importantly, our analyst team has done a wonderful job on stock selection.”

Portfolio characteristics

Number of equity holdings. The fund currently holds 27 stocks in its portfolio. This is much lower than the median of 44 for the diversified-equity category.

Historically too the fund has always had a limited number of stocks in its portfolio. Its average equity count over the past five years has been 27.13. The highest number of stocks it has held in its portfolio was 38 in May 2010. The stock count went as low as 21 in October 2007.

On the fund’s concentrated portfolio, the fund manager says: “That is a very conscious strategy. We restrict the number of stocks in the portfolio to around 25 so as to maintain a high-conviction philosophy and not dilute potential returns. We like to own more of what we like. Beyond a stock count of 25, I do not think you get meaningful diversification anyway.”

Sector concentration. The fund's concentration in the top three, five, and 10 sectors within its portfolio is lower than the median for the diversified-equity category.

 

Top 3

Top 5

Top 10

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses(G)

30.04

40.75

62.11

Median-diversified equity category

34.37

47.85

68.85

All figures in %

Company concentration. The fund's concentration in the top three and five stocks in its portfolio is lower than the median for the diversified-equity category. Its concentration in the top 10 stocks is (almost) at par with the median for the diversified-equity category.

 

Top 3

Top 5

Top 10

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses(G)

15.45

24.54

45.61

Median-diversified equity category

18.96

28.46

45.54

All figures in %

According to the fund manager, “The concentration level in the fund has always been on the higher side. It has got diluted in recent months because of inflows.”

Turnover ratio. According to its latest portfolio disclosure, the fund has a turnover ratio of 188 per cent. This is more than double the median for the diversified-equity category, which stands at 74 per cent.

Even historically the fund has had a high turnover ratio. Over the last five years this figure stands at 163.50 per cent.

The fund manager attributes the high turnover to two factors. “One, we maintain a low stock count. This necessitates a high churn whenever we initiate exposure to a new idea. Two, we have a large-cap component to manage liquidity from a portfolio perspective; we have done a fair bit of trading on this component.”

Expense ratio. The fund currently has an expense ratio of 2.20 per cent, which is about 40 basis points lower than the median of 2 .34 per cent for the diversified-equity category.

Risk. The fund's level of risk hovers around the median for the diversified-equity category. While the standard deviation is marginally higher, the beta is marginally lower than the median.

 

Standard deviation

Beta

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses(G)

1.0096

0.6402

Median-diversified equity category

1.0084

0.8040

Risk-adjusted return. On measures of risk-adjusted return such as Treynor ratio and Sharpe ratio, the fund beats the median for the diversified-equity category.

 

Treynor

Sharpe

SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses(G)

0.09391

0.05955

Median-diversified equity category

0.02031

0.01554

Portfolio strategy

2011. In 2011 the markets declined: the Sensex fell -24.83 per cent, the BSE Mid-cap Index fell -34.78 per cent, and the BSE Small-cap Index fell -43.63 per cent. The BSE 500 Index declined -27.78 per cent. The fund declined only -10.36 per cent, thus beating its index by a hefty margin of 17.42 percentage points. 

In the declining market of 2011, the fund raised its allocation to large-caps which tend to weather such downturns better. Starting with an allocation of 13 per cent, allocation to large caps rose to 33.77 per cent in February. The fund ended the year with a 22.71 per cent allocation to large-cap stocks. Average allocation to large caps for the whole year stood at 24.38 per cent.

Allocation to mid-caps was lowered. From 25.62 per cent in January, exposure to these stocks was reduced to a minimum of 9.79 per cent in April before rising to 18.63 per cent by December. Average allocation for 2011 stood at 17.65 per cent.

The fund began the year with a 56.03 per cent allocation to small-cap stocks. This declined to 41.1 per cent by August before rising again to 44.64 per cent by December. The fund’s allocation to small-cap stocks averaged 47.58 per cent during the year.

The fund began the year with a 5.35 per cent allocation to cash. As the markets declined, cash allocation rose as high as 19.74 per cent by November. The fund ended the year with a 13.76 per cent allocation to cash. Average allocation to cash stood at 10.26 per cent during the year.

We have not looked at the fund’s sector allocation (as is customary in our reviews) because this is a pure bottom-up fund. Says the fund manager: “We don't have any sector bias in this portfolio. We run it purely from a bottom-up perspective. That bottom-up strategy leads to a certain sector allocation which may or may not be intended. Also, because we are in the mid- and small-cap space, the sector holdings are not necessarily homogenous or the stock is not necessarily representative of the sector.”

Company

Jan 2011 (%)

Dec 2011 (%)

Raised/lowered exposure (%age pts.)

Bajaj Holdings & Investment Ltd

 

6.74

6.74

Divi’s Laboratories Ltd.

 

4.44

4.44

Spicejet Ltd.

 

4.19

4.19

Goodyear India Ltd.

3.44

5.79

2.35

HDFC Bank Ltd.

3.32

5.31

1.99

Hawkins Cookers Ltd.

4.76

6.56

1.80

Agro Tech Foods Ltd.

3.28

4.16

0.88

Manappuram Finance Ltd

5.78

5.75

-0.03

Page Industries Ltd.

9.47

7.03

-2.44

Triveni Engineering & Inds. Ltd.

3.74

 

-3.74

Among its top 10 holdings, the fund raised its allocation to Bajaj Holdings & Investment, Divi’s Laboratories, Spice Jet, Goodyear India, HDFC Bank, Hawkins Cookers and Agro Tech Foods. It lowered its allocation to Triveni Engineering, Page Industries and Manappuram Finance.

On the fund’s performance in 2011, the fund manager says: “The stocks that worked for us in 2011 were Page, Hawkins, Goodyear, Agro Tech and Gillette. On a relative basis, we also benefitted from not owning several index heavy weights which performed badly in line with the broader markets.”

2012. Year-to-date (August 31, 2012) the Sensex is up 12.46 per cent, the BSE Mid-cap Index is up 16.82 per cent, and the BSE Small-cap Index is up 15.06 per cent. Year-to-date the fund is up 25.08 per cent, much ahead of its benchmark (BSE 500) which is up only 14.77 per cent. According to the fund manager, “Broadly speaking, the stock selection has worked well. This year, so far, the top contributors have been Spice Jet, Muthoot Finance, Sun TV, Page and Torrent Pharma.”

The fund began the year with a 25.36 per cent allocation to large-cap stocks. This was raised to 42.45 per cent by June before being lowered to 36 per cent by August. On an average the fund has had a 33.42 per cent allocation to large-cap stocks.

It began the year with an 18.94 per cent allocation to mid-cap stocks. This fell to 11.33 per cent by March and then rose again to 22.08 per cent by August. Over this period the fund has had an average allocation of 17.13 per cent to mid-cap stocks.

The fund began the year with a 41.50 per cent allocation to small-cap stocks. This has been gradually reduced to 28.79 per cent by August. On an average, the fund has had a 36.34 per cent exposure to small-cap stocks during the year.

The fund began the year with a 14.19 per cent allocation to cash. This was gradually lowered to 6.86 per cent by June before being raised again to 8.25 per cent by August. The fund's allocation to cash has averaged 11 per cent during the year.

Company

Jan 2012(%)

August 2012(%)

Raised/lowered allocation (%age pts.)

Tech Mahindra Ltd.

 

5.19

5.19

Muthoot Finance Ltd

 

5.04

5.04

Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

 

4.13

4.13

Balkrishna Industries Ltd.

 

4.11

4.11

HCL Technologies Ltd

 

3.98

3.98

Carborundum Universal Ltd.

2.79

4.30

1.51

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

2.83

4.11

1.28

DiviS Laboratories Ltd.

4.09

4.13

0.05

Goodyear India Ltd.

5.35

4.40

-0.95

Hawkins Cookers Ltd.

5.73

4.61

-1.12

Among its top 10 holdings, this year the fund has raised its exposure to stocks like Tech Mahindra, Muthoot Finance, Torrent  Pharma, Balkrishna Industries and so on (see table above). It has reduced its exposure to Hawkins Cookers and Goodyear India.

Fund manager

The fund is managed by R Srinivasan who is the head of equities at SBI Mutual Fund. He has been managing this fund since May 2009. Prior to joining this fund house, he worked with Future Capital Holdings and Oppenheimer and Company.

Besides SBI Magnum Emerging Businesses, some of the other equity funds he manages include SBI Magnum Equity, SBI Magnum Global 94, and SBI Magnum Contra.

Conclusion

The fund runs a concentrated portfolio and has a high level of churn. From a conventional viewpoint it is a high-risk offering. The key counter-balancing factors are quality of stock-picking and a relatively higher allocation to large-caps in recent times. 

Investors with a high risk appetite may invest in this fund, which has rewarded the faithful handsomely in the past.

 
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