- Australian Ethical’s Smaller Companies fund won No. 1 spot
in SuperRatings’ ‘Australian Shares’ category — produced a return of 16.05% - Australian Ethical’s Advocacy fund option was also No. 1
out of the 69 funds in the SuperRatings’ ‘High Growth’ category — produced a return of 15.98%
Australia’s leading, independent superannuation research firm, SuperRatings, has released a new report which shows Australian Ethical Super has topped a number of performance rankings in 2014, with superior returns to some of our most well-known, mainstream, super funds.
Investing in ethical companies listed on the ASX, with a focus on ‘small cap’ stocks, produced a return of 16.05% for Australian Ethical’s Smaller Companies fund taking out the number one spot in SuperRatings’ ‘Australian Shares’ category.
This return provided Australian Ethical members with 65% higher returns than the second ranked option (9.69% return) and a staggering 225% more in returns than the median of 4.93% of the 85 other funds assessed in the category.
These results trumped well-known funds such as BT Super for Life and Statewide Super. (See Table 1 below).
David Macri, Chief Investment Officer of Australian Ethical commented, “The results reflect both our commitment to our ethics and a proven investment process which has consistently enabled us to outperform.”
Australian Ethical’s Advocacy fund option was also top out of the 69 funds in the SuperRatings’ ‘High Growth’ category with a return of 15.98% in comparison to the median return of 9.06% from the other funds in the category. (See Table 2 below).
The Advocacy option is invested in both Australian and international shares, with a small provision made to purchase shares for corporate advocacy purposes that aren’t approved under the company’s ethical assessment process.
In addition to the unique approach to investing, Australian Ethical takes an approach of complete transparency, as Macri further explains “We invest according to our ethical charter which is available on our website, alongside every single company that we invest in,”
“This gives customers the opportunity to see if their ethics align with our charter and to view the types of companies their super will be generating a profit from – this type of transparency is rare in the financial services sector.” concluded Macri.
Australian Ethical’s approach means that investing in industries like tobacco, uranium or coal mining, exploitation of people, or old growth forest logging are out and investing in building a new low-carbon economy, funding medical and technology breakthroughs, and energy efficiency are in.
To learn more about Australian Ethical and their performance go to www.australianethical.com.au
Table 1: SuperRatings Top Five Funds and Median for ‘Australian Shares’ Category
Table 2: SuperRatings Top Five Funds and Median for ‘High Growth’ Category