NTHC Horizon Fund Limited has recorded an annualised yield of 25.17 percent for the year ended December 2012, with the expectation of mobilising additional investments into the fund this year.
Gaylord Kemevor, the board chairman of the fund, said new investments will enable the company to continue building and diversifying the fund effectively to take advantage of the changing investment landscape in the country.
The stocks that contributed to the success of the fund were Standard Chartered Bank and Fan Milk Limited, which gave returns of 26.43 percent and 49.79 percent respectively. Given their weight in the portfolio, they significantly pushed up the net asset value of the fund, Mr. Kemevor said.
Comparing the figure to the Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index and the Financial Stocks Index, he said the two indices posted an annual return of 23.81 percent and 20.48 percent respectively.
“The NTHC Horizon Fund’s performance therefore beats these key indices. This performance largely moved the net value of the fund from GH¢1,002,819 to GH¢1,290,491 -- representing a 28.68 percent increase for the year.”
Commenting on the country’s economy during the year under review, he said Ghana witnessed relative economic stability and appreciable growth rates in 2012 despite weakening global growth conditions. Revised Gross Domestic Product estimates released by the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that in real terms the economy expanded by 7.9 percent in 2012.
On the foreign exchange market, he said the cedi depreciated by 18.97 percent against the US dollar in 2012 compared to 9.01 percent in 2011.
He said the poor performance of the cedi was mainly due to intense demand pressure for foreign exchange to fund imports, and the premature redemption of portfolio investments by non-residents.
He told shareholders at the fund’s 8th annual general meeting that the future of the fund looks bright following the rebound of the Ghana Stock Exchange, adding that the new pension scheme has also brought about a steady increase in subscriptions.
He said this is expected to increase the asset size, value returns and flexibility of the fund.
He said the company remains very positive about the fund’s outlook as world markets continue to recover from shocks in the advanced economies and the government’s prudent economic policies begin to pay off.
Francis Nyoagbe, Investment Manager of the fund, said the NTHC Horizon Fund is a balanced mutual fund with the objective of preserving and enhancing shareholder wealth to meet medium- to long-term financial goals while creating liquidity to meet short-term needs.
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