Ann: Half Year Webcast December 2018, page-21

I’m not having a go at Karl. Nor am I blaming his cash levels for the current NTA. In fact his cash levels are very reasonable right now. I previously said I thought his performance was affected by a shocker result and a subsequent black swan event in ARQ for which he shouldn’t be unduly blamed.
My comments regarding cash levels was a general comment regarding any LIC’s going ridiculously overweight in cash. I don’t like it because it’s confected. Simple truth is that fund managers have a preference for, at a bare minimum, performing in line with their peers. Outperforming the market runs a far second to their first “kpi”. And it only takes one influential fund to start going aggressively to cash and reporting it in their monthly NTA, to drive the lesser funds down the same road, with scant regard for value at which they may be sellingthese assets to raise cash. Meanwhile, the xjo and the xso are both up 10% in the last month. Call me cynical...