In April 2020 the average prudential balanced portfolio returned 8.3% (March 2020: -8.2%). Top performer is Prudential Namibia Balanced Fund with 9.6%, while Momentum Namibia Growth Balanced Fund with 7.4% takes the bottom spot. For the 3-month period, Investec Namibia Managed Balanced Fund takes the top spot, outperforming the ‘average’ by roughly 4.4%. On the other end of the scale Momentum Namibia Growth Balanced Fund underperformed the ‘average’ by 4.8%. Note that these returns are before (gross of) asset management fees.

The Monthly Review of Portfolio Performance to 30 April 2020 provides a full review of portfolio performances and other interesting analyses.

After Corona the world will never be the same again

Every politician, every news medium, and of course Bill Gates, are all heralding that the world we knew before will never be the same again, after Corona. The abbreviations A.C. and B.C. have been given a new meaning – After Corona and Before Corona. Have you noticed like I, that this message is driven in particular by ITC companies and others, clearly wanting to capitalise on IT to promote their business?

In the 20 years or so B.C. we experienced a huge tidal wave of human movement across the world. One may probably differentiate between business movement and leisure movement. I believe these two will respond differently in the years A.C.

Maybe me, as a ‘baby boomer’, am still of the old school. I believe human beings are social animals. They like to socialise, meet face to face and interact on a personal level and have that feel-, smell-, taste experience, simply being a human being. We do not want to be prescribed to the n’th degree what we may do, what we may not do, where we may and may not be, how and when we may move around – like an animal in a zoo. We may live being shackled for a while, but we will not, as a species accept shackles for any extended period and the longer we are shackled down, the more violent the breaking of these shackles will eventually be. This is what history tells us. The virtual world may add a facet to our lives but it will not change our human genes. I am convinced that the new reality A.C. is a huge hype blown up by people with a vested interest and opportunists joining the band wagon.

Read part 6 of the Monthly Review of Portfolio Performance to 30 April 2020 to find out what our investment views are.