Milford Asset Management (Milford) has achieved a significant milestone in its history in reaching over $600million of funds under management. This represents more than 100% growth in funds over the past year for the boutique investment manager.

In commenting on the company’s achievement Anthony Quirk, Milford Managing Director, stated: “it is extremely pleasing to see strong growth in our funds under management given we are in a period of such volatility for financial markets. Existing and new clients are recognising that significant investment experience is vital in such an environment, as well as the ability to perform when times are tough. Milford has these attributes and this is a key reason behind our recent strong funds growth.”

Funds growth has been strong for Milford across all areas of its business including the Milford Aggressive Fund, which has grown to be over $100m in less than three years. The Fund has achieved a 31.7% return (before tax and after fees) to 31 July 2010, since its launch as a tax efficient Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) on 1 October 2007. This compares with a fall in the New Zealand sharemarket (NZX 50 Gross Index) of 29.1% over the same period. This outstanding performance is the result of excellent stock selection and prudently investing in cash and bonds in poor sharemarket conditions. $20m has been invested into this fund over the past four months when the industry is facing outflows from non-KiwiSaver products, making it one of the fastest growing funds in the market.

This Fund is the basis of the Milford Aggressive KiwiSaver Fund which, according to Morningstar, has been the best performing KiwiSaver Fund among growth-oriented funds over the past two years ending June 30, 2010.

Milford launched the Milford Income Fund four months ago and this has also grown rapidly with over $9.0m already invested in it. Its rapid growth reinforces that investors are looking for an alternative way to generate income from their investments.

Looking forward Anthony Quirk stated that: “Milford and its clients are positioned to do well from the very difficult market conditions, which does reinforce the need for investors to use active investment managers who can add value.”
Contact Anthony Quirk, Managing Director, Milford Asset Management
09 921 4702 or 021 223 4591

Milford Asset Management
Milford was founded in December 2003. It is a specialist investment management company with its Executive Directors being Brian Gaynor, Anthony Quirk, Graeme Thomas and Alan Moore. It provides individually managed portfolios for a range of clients including individuals, family trusts and charitable trusts. Milford has five PIE-compliant managed funds, four of these being unit trusts (the Milford Aggressive, Peak, Income and Balanced Funds) and two being KiwiSaver funds (the Milford Aggressive KiwiSaver and Balanced Funds).

Milford was awarded the Morningstar Emerging Manager award in 2009 and the Chapman Tripp INFINZ Equity Fund Manager award in 2010. It was a finalist for the Chapman Tripp INFINZ Equity Fund Manager award in 2009 and a finalist for the Morningstar NZ Equity Fund Manager award in 2010.

Anthony Quirk
Anthony is Managing Director of Milford and has over 25 years experience in the investment industry and has been with Milford since 2007. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Financial Professionals New Zealand and is a board member of that organisation. He has previously been Chairman of the Asset Management Advisory Board of the New Zealand Exchange, member of the Financial Reporting Standards Board of the New Zealand Society of Accountants and Deputy Chairman of the New Zealand Society of Investment Analysts.