As part of its ongoing training, Valletta Fund Management recently organised its quarterly sales seminar at the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Golden Sands for authorised sales persons licensed to promote and sell its range of investment funds.
VFM Chief Officer Peter Perotti opened the seminar by highlighting the main advantages of investing in a collective investment scheme including diversification of the underlying investments, liquidity considerations, cost efficiency and expertise of the fund manager. He went on to say that, “in the light of the current market scenario it is imperative that a high level of cautiousness is applied and also that one’s portfolio should be diversified and managed by specialists who have the time, resources and expertise to run and actively manage large investment portfolios on behalf of investors”.
Mark Vella, Head of VFM updated those present with a detailed review and outlook of the bond and equity market during the fourth quarter of 2011. He mentioned that “US and UK government bonds retained their safe haven status and gilts produced a total return of 15.6 per cent on the year”.
He explained how the market sentiment is dominated by the current European crisis and how Europe remains in the doldrums after a pedestrian final quarter to the year where continental European stock markets ended the year down 15 per cent with Japan, Asia and emerging markets equally dismal. Speaking on equities, Mr Vella said that the last quarter of 2011 has seen gains in equities, which still failed to prevent most major market loss for the year. This rally was influenced by the investors regaining their risk appetite in October after a heavy selling in Quarter 3. Another attribute that supported equities was the high expectation for the December 2011 EU summit and the better than expected US economic data in the final month of the year including employment and manufacturing data, and some good corporate earnings. He concluded that “The outlook for equity markets is unfortunately becoming ever more dependent on influences which are not governed by economic or company fundamentals and that the most pressing concern is the viability of the euro.”
Grace Debono and Edith O’Connor updated those present with the performance and fund activity of the International Bond and Equity Funds during the final quarter of 2011.
During the afternoon session, David Pace Ross from Bank of Valletta shared the main highlights of the various companies listed on the Malta Stock Exchange and provided the audience with an outlook of the prospective corporate strategies.
Antoine Briffa, on behalf of BOV as Adviser to the Fund Manager of the local bond and equity funds managed by VFM rounded off the seminar by giving a thorough explanation of the performance attributed to the last quarter of 2011 in respect of the funds which are exposed to the local bond and equity market together with the outlook for the local market.