Hong Kong, February 19, 2004 – The South China Morning Post Fund Manager of the Year Awards 2003 today acknowledged the top performing funds and their respective fund managers, covering different global markets and all asset classes.
The investment funds award was organised by the South China Morning Post in association with Standard & Poor’s Fund Services and sponsored by Peace Mark (Holdings) Limited.
In the leading group awards, which evaluate the overall performance of fund management groups, Threadneedle Asset Management Limited took the honour for the 3-year category, while the 5-year and 10-year group awards were won by JF Asset Management.
Among the other awards, from a pool of more than 1,800 retail market-oriented funds registered for sales, 72 winners were recognised from a total of 31 sectors.
Financial Secretary, the Honorable Mr. Henry Tang, was the guest of honour at the Awards presentation ceremony and presented the award certificates to the major winners.
South China Morning Post Group Editor-in-Chief Mr. David Armstrong said, "Hong Kong’s fund market is relatively under-developed. Therefore, investor education must be enhanced to change Hong Kong people’s investing culture. Being a leading newspaper in Hong Kong, we believe the South China Morning Post, through its Business section, is an effective tool to assist industry players to achieve this goal."
Standard & Poor’s Investment Services for Asia-Pacific, Managing Director Mr. William J. Reidy commented, "With more than 1,800 funds registered for sale in the market, the unit trust industry in Hong Kong has shown significant growth over the past few years. This growth will be further fueled by the current low-interest rate environment, which will inevitably lead investors to seek investment products that will deliver higher returns at a sustained risk level. With this increasingly vast universe of funds for investors to choose from, it is now more critical than ever for there to be an objective and independent benchmark for gauging funds’ performance, a need that Standard & Poor’s and our partner SCMP believe can be filled with the Fund Manager of the Year Award."
The South China Morning Post Fund Manager of the Year 2003 was assessed using a methodology known as Relative Risk-Adjusted Ratio as was the case last year. This calculation evaluates the performance of a fund and the consistency of that performance relative to other funds in its peer group sector. Three time periods, namely three years, five years and ten years, were analysed for this year’s Awards.
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South China Morning Post Publishers Limited publishes the South China Morning Post and the Sunday Morning Post, the premier English language daily and Sunday newspapers with the highest circulation and readership of any English language newspaper in Hong Kong. The South China Morning Post, with its first edition published in 1903, is a leading commentator on Greater China and is read widely by government officials, business people, professionals and academics. It is also the market leader for display and recruitment advertising in Hong Kong. Through its subscription-based online service, SCMP.com, a global audience is offered access to unrivalled, independent, local news coverage and in-depth analysis of Greater China. The Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SCMP Group Limited whose shares are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.
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