The Maestro Equity Fund will change it's name to Maestro Equity Prescient Fund, effective from 01 December 2012

During September the Fund rose 0.3% versus the 1.7% return of the All Share Index. The Fund's underweight position in basic materials and the fact that no gold shares are held in the portfolio led to it lagging the market this month. The gainers for September were led by Capitec which rose 10.8% after releasing yet another set of impressive results. Exxaro gained 7.6%, on the back of a bounce in the iron ore price, Naspers rose 5.3%, Billiton 5.2%, Coronation 4.9%, B&W 4.8%, Kumba 4.8% and Wilson Bayly 4.5%. On the "downside" Metmar was a disappointment declining 14.7% on the month as a deal fell through for a third party to take a large stake in the company. Retailers were weak across the board and Mr Price and Cashbuild were no exception as they declined 7.4% and 6.6% respectively. After a strong previous two months we saw some investors taking profits in Blue Label Telecoms and Richemont, which declined 4.0% and 3.7% respectively. During the month the Fund reduced the holdings in Billiton, Mr Price and Sasol and increased the Steinhoff holding.

During June the Fund rose 0.6%. This can be compared to the respective gains of 1.8% and 1.9% of the Maestro equity benchmark and the All Share Index. The Fund's underweight in the resources and large cap financial shares was the main cause of the Fund lagging the market during the month. Turning to the shares which were weak during June, Grindrod led the decliners falling 6.2%. Capitec fell 5.8%, Sasol 5.2%, Steinhoff 4.9% and Naspers 3.1%. On a positive note Metmar rose 10.7% on the back of corporate activity, despite paying a 6.1% dividend during the month. Investec gained 9.1%, Mr Price 7.4%, Aspen 7.0% and Billiton 6.1%. During the month the Fund slightly reduced its holdings in Mr Price, Tiger Brands and Capitec and increased its holding in Hudaco. A new holding in the form of PBT technologies was introduced into the Fund in June.

During March the NAV rose 2.0%. This can be compared to the respective 0.1% and -1.4% returns of the Maestro equity benchmark and the All Share Index. The Fund's outperformance was largely driven by the overweight allocation to industrials. To put the industrial sector's outperformance into perspective, industrials are up 10.5% for the quarter while resource shares are down 2.0%. Over the past year industrials have risen 21.0% versus resources' decline of 12.0%.

These numbers highlight the importance of getting the "Big Picture" right. Within the portfolio it is unsurprising that most of the laggards were resource shares. Anglos fell 11.9%, Kumba 7.8%, Sasol 7.3%, Billiton 6.2%, Exxaro 6.1% and Digicore 4.8%. As for the shares that rose in the portfolio, B&W gained 40.3% in anticipation of their interim results in April. Cashbuild rose 13.3%, Capitec 10.8% and Aspen 9.1%, all on the back of impressive financial results released in March. Wilson Bayly rose 9.9% and Blue Label Telecoms 9.4%.

During the month the Fund reduced its holding in Aspen and increased its investment in Billiton, Cashbuild, Exxaro, Sasol and Tiger Brands. Hudaco was initiated in the portfolio.

During September the NAV declined 2.7%. The Maestro equity benchmark and All Share Index returned -3.7% and -3.6% respectively. During the month many of the shares in the fund paid dividends, which tends to depress the index returns but of course are taken into account when calculating the Fund returns. The monthly movement in the shares below exclude dividends. The weak spots in the Fund during the month were the declines in Kumba, which declined 11.9%, Investec 11.6%, Billiton 10.8%, Metmar 9.8%, Exxaro 9.4%, Mr Price 8.8%, Implats 8.6%, MTN 8.1%, Abil 7.2% and Anglo 5.8%. Despite all the shrapnel flying around, some shares actually posted positive returns; Cashbuild rose 11.3%, helped by very respectable results, Aspen rose 8.0% (also on the back of excellent results), Blue Label rose 3.9%, Grindrod 2.8% on the news of a R2bn capital injection into the company by Remgro, Capitec rose 1.9% and B&W 1.3%.