BlackPearl Capital Partners

31/01/2022

For the 4th quarter of the 2021 the fund finished up +2.02%.

For the 2021 Calendar Year the BlackPearl Masters Fund generated a return of +20.30%.

It was a volatile fourth quarter for global equity markets although markets generally finished the quarter positive on the back of earnings upgrades and reduced risk from the potential default by Chinese property developer Evergrande. However, this news flow was offset by the rise in the new Omicron COVID-19 variant and more hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve in regard to the tapering of their bond purchases.

On the ASX the strongest performing sectors were Materials, Utilities and Property while Energy and Information Technology lagged the market. It was not surprising that the fund’s allocation to strategies that had overweight positions to the strongest performing sectors and where short the weaker sectors performed the best.

26/11/2021

For the month of October, the BlackPearl Masters Fund finished up +1.47% and for the last 12 months the fund is up +29.91%.

Global equity markets regained their momentum in October with commodity markets also well supported during the month. A number of base metals, energy and agriculture markets saw price rises with improving global demand and a tightening supply. Strong gains were seen across copper, nickel, WTI crude and the NdPr rare earths basket.

Six of the funds’ strategies generated positive gains during the month with some of the strongest performance coming from the small cap strategies. Gains were generated across the retail, technology and resource sectors while individual names such as Superloop and Red5 were strong contributors to performance.

23/09/2021

The BlackPearl Masters Fund had a strong month in August finishing up +4.28%.

Over the last 12 months the fund is up +29.23%.

All of the fund’s strategies generated positive returns in August with a number of strategies generating outsized returns.

The majority of ASX companies reported their earnings in August and many of our strategies positions where on the right side of the reports. Our Australia focused long short strategy had a very strong month with key positions of the strategy reporting robust financial results.

The fund’s long short, small cap strategy also had a very strong month benefiting from a takeover of Afterpay by Nasdaq listed Square. Fortunately, a number of our strategies were holding long positions in Afterpay when the takeover was announced.

Afterpay was a stock that divided the investment community and had its fair share of doubters and believers. The all scrip bid for Afterpay is the largest takeover in Australian history and investors will have the opportunity to receive shares in Square either listed locally on the ASX or on the New York Stock Exchange. At least one of our managers has decided to hold on to their exposure to Square seeing significant upside in Square’s business

02/09/2021

In July 2021 the BlackPearl Masters Fund was up +0.55%.

For the 12 months the fund is up +27.10%.

Since Inception +38.62%

During the month we saw increasing concerns around the COVID-19 delta variant and experienced further lockdowns in the Australian eastern states. However global economic data continued to improve which provided evidence of a sustained recovery in economic activity. Additionally, we saw an increase in vaccination rates both in the US and Europe with those economies continuing to re-open.

A standout for the month was the fund’s small cap long short strategy. The strategy continued to retain an overweight position to the materials sector which benefited the strategies performance during the month, as commodity prices, especially thermal coal and battery materials continued to strengthen. This led to the strategy benefiting from met coal producer Coronado Global Resources as well as Graphite producer Syrah Resource.

Pleasingly, this month, after a challenging period, the funds long short global value strategy had a strong month of performance on the back of short positions in Biotech and ESG promotion stocks while the strategies long positions also contributed positively.

25/06/2021

The BlackPearl Masters continued its positive performance in May generating a return of +0.79%.

Over the last 12 months the fund is up +28.45%. Since inception of the strategy the fund has generated 35.17%.

During May economic data showed that inflation is continuing to track higher with the US consumer price index (CPI) spiking to 4.2%, the highest number in 13 years. Going forward this is a space to watch as market participants try and understand whether higher inflation is transitionary or here to stay. The outcome, either way, will have an impact on monetary policy decision making and in turn equity prices.

The stronger inflation numbers reported during the month led to investor repositioning in the markets with the fund continuing to take advantage of the rotation from growth to value stocks. Locally, material and financials sectors outperformed while industrials and growth stocks lagged. Materials were the strongest performing sector in the Small Ordinaries Index which led to the fund benefiting from positions such as PPK Group, Chalice Mining and Coronado Resources.

The Taiwan market fell in May as a result of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country. As a result, the fund took advantage of the lower equity prices to allocate capital to mispriced Taiwan investments.

23/05/2021

The BlackPearl Masters Fund generated a return of +5.19% in April 2021.

Over the last 12 months the fund has gained +32.53%.

During April, all of the fund’s strategies generated a positive return with a couple of strategies managing to produce double digit returns for the month.

The funds best performing strategy generated strong returns from the materials sector which benefited from significant positive commodity price moves across base metals, bulk, and agriculture commodities. Resource exposures continued to benefit the strategy which gained from strong iron ore, copper and lithium prices during the month.

In April we saw markets beginning to pay more attention to bottom-up company fundamentals, at least in some parts of the market and with many companies that were pandemic winders now cycling very strong earnings, a number of the fund’s strategies were able to generate strong gains in these names on the short side of the book.

April: +5.19%
3mth: +8.98%
6mth: +19.68%
12mth: +32.53%

05/04/2021

The BlackPearl Masters Fund was up +2.82% in February and since the start of April last year is up +26.5%.

During the month the strategies that performed well included the Pan Asia strategy which generated all it’s returns on the long side but also managed to generated positive alpha on the short side.

With earnings season playing out during the month it was notable to see a large number of companies reporting better than expected earnings, versus in many cases, low expectations.

Another strategy that performed very well during the month was the global long-short variable beta strategy which generated strong returns across the portfolio as a result of a rotation in the market from growth to value stocks.

The rotation has been driven by rising bond yields which influence the valuations of growth stocks more than value stocks as growth company earnings are generally further out in the future.

We expect this rotation to continue for some time which should benefit the global long short variable beta strategy that continues to have exposure to the oversold value and cyclical sectors such as travel, industrials, energy and mining.

17/05/2020

Join the team at BlackPearl Capital Partners on Thursday, 21st May 2020 5pm for our webinar where we discuss:

'How to Thrive in The Current Investment Climate' and focus on:

• The recent sell off in historical context.
• Why it’s important to act quickly in the market during volatile periods.
• Why many investors have missed out on big gains already and how you can avoid making the same mistakes going forward.
• Why you should look through the short term volatility and focus on the long term which is how big gains are made.
• Look at market absolute and relative valuations to understand whether stocks are cheap or expensive.
• How you can use alternative investments in your portfolio during these volatile times to reduce downside risk while still being able to take advantage of any upside movements in the market.

Thursday, 21st May 2020 5pm AEST

Event starts: Thursday, May 21, 2020 05:00 PM Australia/Sydney

14/05/2020

The S&P500 is the broad index for US equities.

It is clear to see that bear markets have tended to last much shorter in duration and have been shallower relative to bull markets.

Many investors would look at this and try to pick the bottom and time the market before they invest.

The smart investors look at when markets are actually down, when we are in bear territory, as historically when investors have invested in these times, even if they haven’t caught the exact bottom, have been able to capitalise accordingly by taking a longer term approach.

Markets are forward looking. Many are seeing current negative news flows as a barrier to invest.

By solely focusing on these present negative news flows, whilst not discounting it, one may miss the opportunity to take advantage of these lower equity prices.

Source: Bloomberg LP (Returns from 22/10/1957 -31/12/2019)

10/01/2020

There is a structural change happening within the economic environment and global markets, specifically around intellectual capital, as its becoming more relevant, disrupting conventional business models across many sectors.

Companies that are 'making heavy investments in intellectual capital and brand' are proving to be valuable opportunities for investors.

Big technology changes leaving firms reliant on tangible assets behind but trend disguised

17/11/2019

Honoured for the invitation and looking forward to the 10th Global Family Office Investment Summit in Dubai, November 2019, where we can share our expertise and experience as an Australian based investment manager as well focus on discussions that will concentrate on the next wave of industry specific opportunities and global mega trends.

This will be an opportunity to discuss and identify actionable investment opportunities and strategies in all sectors, in addition to establishing international relationships and cross border thought leadership.

12/10/2019

Proud to be associated with the 2019 MiniFootball World Cup at The BlackPearl Capital Arena, Langley Park, Perth.
Congratulations to the winners Mexico as well as all players, officials and fans.
A very big mention to Bryan and Miguel from the Australian MiniFootball Association.