Currency advantages

The profitability rating of OFBU has been compiled based on the results of last year

Only eight out of 99 Russian general bank management funds (BMF) showed positive returns last year, Investfunds notes in its review. The leader was the Hedge Fund created at the Slavic Credit Bank, showing a ruble return of 33.97%, and the cost of an equity participation certificate (SPC) - 4,367 rubles. The fund invested in futures contracts on the RTS. The remaining seven structures that received a positive result are under the management of Uniastrum Bank. The best of them, “Premier - Global Logistics Stock Fund” (invested in shares of companies providing transport services), ended the year with a ruble return of +14.73% (the value of the SDU as of December 31 reached $150.9). It is followed by “Premier - fund of shares of companies that have undergone initial public offering” (+13.76%, 99.78 dollars), “Garantfond-4” (+6.41%, 3.6 thousand rubles), “Garantfond-5” (+3.58%, 3.46 thousand rubles), “Garantfond-1” (+3.3%, 4.47 thousand rubles), “Garant fund-6” (+ 0.91%, 3.15 thousand rubles) and the Fixed Income Instruments Fund (+0.05%, 1.1 thousand rubles). These financial institutions were able to profit from investments in bonds and shares of Russian and foreign companies, as well as precious metals.

According to Investfunds, 19 funds saw returns decline by more than 90%. The outsider was the regional “Premier - Russian stock fund doubled” managed by Uniastrum Bank. Due to failures when investing in indices of shares of Russian companies, the value of its SDU fell by 98.43%, to 63.7 rubles. On average, the profitability of all analyzed OFBUs was -45.36%.

The largest funds in terms of net asset value (NAV), according to the rating, are managed by Petrocommerce Bank: Petrocommerce-2 (NAV - 1.3 billion rubles) and Petrocommerce-1 (306.7 million rub.). Their returns were -54.17% and -54.95%, respectively.

Despite the weak indicators, the results of the OFBU look much more advantageous compared to the activities of mutual funds in 2008. According to the National League of Managers, out of 402 mutual investment funds, only four - “Finam Deposit” (yield 6.38%), “Gazprombank-Treasury” (yield 6.24%), “Rublevka - money market fund” (yield 6%) and “Topaz” (yield 1.09%) were in the positive zone.

The past year has clearly shown that even the most promising securities and commodities can seriously depreciate in value. The price of oil fell by 60%, while gold, on the contrary, increased in price by 1.7%. The indices of Russian stock exchanges fell the most in the world, the RTS sank by 72.7%, the MICEX by 67.3%. Since January last year, the RTS oil and gas index has collapsed by 68%, metals and mining by 77%, electric power by 82%, finance and consumer goods by 80%.

Analyzing the results of the year, experts decided which investment decisions were the most correct. “The optimal strategy in 2008 was foreign currency deposits (dollar, euro), because, unlike others, they showed profitability and benefited from revaluation,” says Trust National Bank analyst Pavel Pikulev.

However, at the end of the third quarter, these conclusions were not yet obvious to market participants. Let us recall that on September 29, the value of shares of 14 out of 78 funds managed by Uniastrum Bank fell by an average of 90% during the day. The result was the suspension by the Federal Financial Markets Service of the bank’s license as a professional participant in the securities market “due to repeated violations of the law,” which lasted until December 26.

Georgy VORONKOV