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Fund Pick: Sun F&C Value Fund

Background

Sun F&C Value Fund is a small open-end equity fund. Initially the Value Fund was an interval fund with quarterly sales and redemption and was converted into an open-end fund in February 1998.The fund mobilised Rs 3.51 crore in its initial offer period. It is almost fully invested in equities. The fund gave its first dividend of 25 per cent in September 1999. Entry into the fund carries a 1.5 per cent load.

Performance

Sun F&C Value Fund, in over two years of its operation, has done reasonably well, outperforming the index by a wide margin. The compounded annual return on the scheme works out to around 59.22 per cent since inception, against a 10.38 per cent return on the Sensex. But most of the gain has been in calendar 1999, the fund being up 125 per cent since December 31, 1999. Backed by this growth in the year, the fund gave its first dividend of 25 per cent in September 1999. Launched in July 1997, the fund's initial investment was made in a fairly overheated market with Sensex at 4300 levels which was shortly followed by a free falling market till October 1998. The fund barely managed to guard its assets.

However, with the markets turning around in 1999 the fund gained handsomely riding select growth stocks. Till June 1999 the fund was heavily into software, pharma and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks aggregating around 60-70 per cent. However, since July it has spread its portfolio to select cyclical stocks as well, mainly automobiles, refining, cement and engineering stocks. The cyclical stocks accounted for 48 per cent of the net assets as on December 10, 1999.

Outlook

Value Fund will be a beneficiary of a change in the economic outlook. The fund has a diversified portfolio of 55 stocks spread across sectors. The fund is suited for investors seeking steady gains from equities.

FUND BASICS
Objective	Size	NAV:04/01/2000	Exit Price	Entry Price	Total Returns
Equity	34.34 Cr.	28.60	28.15	29.03	59 %
BENCHMARK COMPARISONS (%)					30/12/99
	1M	3M	6M	1Yr	3Yr
Fund	14.2	20.5	58.7	128.0	NA
Sensex	8.3	5.1	20.8	60.9	NA
Nat.Index	16.5	18.6	47.2	89.5	NA
Obj. Avg.	15.7	18.8	48.0	79.7	15.1
TOP HOLDINGS EQUITY (10/12/99)			Mkt. Value (Cr)		Net Asset (%)
HLL			1.78		6.04
Hughes Software			1.67		5.65
Moser Baer			1.25		4.25
HCL Technologies			1.23		4.18
Software Solution Integrated			0.86		2.92
Pentafour Software			0.85		2.88
Hindustan Petroleum Corpn.			0.83		2.83
SBI			0.80		2.71
Satyam Computer Services			0.78		2.66
Gujarat Gas			0.70		2.39
Cummins India			0.67		2.27
Grasim Industries			0.65		2.19
IPCA Labs			0.62		2.11
Punjab Tractors			0.62		2.11
Siemens			0.60		2.03
MTNL			0.58		1.97
Gramaphone Company			0.57		1.94
Jai Prakash Industries			0.57		1.93
Telco			0.56		1.91
Bata India Ltd.			0.56		1.89

Mutual Funds

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