The PSG Advance Wealth International FoF is a portfolio of Offshore funds. Through our critical mass as a trusted financial consulting firm and we can obtain access to funds there are otherwise inaccessible to South African retail investors. The Orbis fund which makes out 17.2% of the portfolio is currently closed to all retail investors. PSG Konsult can provide our clients access to such collective investment schemes at aggressively negotiated rates.

Further, often offshore investment entails significant lump sum investments. For example, the Ashburton fund which comprises18.6% of the value of the total fund requires a minimum investment of 10 000 GBP. Again, PSG Konsult can provide our clients access to such collective investment schemes at aggressively negotiated rates.

Also note that the PSG Advance Wealth International FoF is a ZAR denominated portfolio and will therefore not utilize any of the investors offshore allowance.

Feedback from Orbis on the performance of the Orbis Global Equity Fund (06/08):

"In what has been one of the worst months for many stock markets since the Great Depression, your Fund experienced its third-worst monthly decline in its 18 year history, losing 11.1%. Worse still, Global underperformed its benchmark enough to bring the year-to date performance for the Fund lower than that of the World Index. A significant contributor to this poor relative performance was Global's underweighting in the energy and commodity groups, which continue to be white hot despite the equity market downturn and increased risk of global recession. Long-term Members would not be surprised to see the Fund having rotated out of such shares we believe to be fully valued, only to see them continue to outperform. Oil was clearly the driver for global stock markets in June, with each rise in its price prompting another drop in the markets. How long this relationship lasts and what the medium- and long-term holds for oil from here is tough to predict, but from recent experience we would not be surprised to see the Fund negatively impacted in the near term by further rise in oil price."

ASHBURTON
Although the month started solidly, the Fed's 25 basis point rate cut on 11 December was insufficient to reassure equity investors and the MSCI fell over 6% in five trading sessions. In this uncertain environment, the main focus for our Managed Services has been limiting risk and volatility. Our main calls in terms of equity strategy have been to keep overall equity exposure relatively neutral with a continued bias towards Asia ex-Japan, where strong economic growth (particularly in China and India) is supporting a healthy uptrend in corporate profits.
Bond yields edged higher in December as central banks stepped up their combined effort to ease the global 'credit crunch'. Not only have interest rates been cut (US, UK and Canada all reduced by 0.25%), but significant amounts of liquidity have been injected to the money markets, more latterly by way of auction. This decisive action has seen inter-bank rates fall significantly and helped to soothe investors' fears regarding the outlook for economic growth.
Elsewhere, the currency markets saw the US dollar stabilise whilst sterling sold-off dramatically. Vulnerabiliy of the UK to the global credit crunch became ever clearer, meaning sterling weakened, particularly when the Monetary Policy Committee sounded a more "dovish" tone on interest rate policy We built up foreign currency exposure for sterling-based accounts and initiated new long positions in both the Canadian dollar and the euro, both of which returned healthy profits. Moreover, we felt the US dollar was due to a bounce given that it was technically oversold and very much out of favour. We therefore reduced foreign currency exposure for our dollar-based services and tentatively introduced a small exposure to the US dollar for sterling and euro-based portfolios.

Nick Lee & Peter Lucas
Ashburton (Jersey) Limited