Platinum benefits from focus on COVID-19 research
The Platinum International Health Care fund is making the most of the opportunities presented by the healthcare industry’s attempts to find a solution for COVID-19.
The fund sought to take advantage of the changes and developments in the fields of healthcare and medicine and offer exposure to companies in the global healthcare system. This included pharmaceuticals, biotechs, medical equipment manufacturers and healthcare software providers.
Its top holding at 4.8% was SpeeDex, an Australian biotech firm which focused diagnostics for the detection of viral and bacterial infections.
Manager Bianca Ogden previously trained as a virologist and spent several years working in pharmaceuticals before joining Platinum and setting up the fund.
Ogden was the winner of this year’s Best-performing Fund with a Women in a Leadership Role at the Money Management Fund Manager of the Year awards 2020.
Referencing her win, Ogden said: “I’ve been very lucky to combine my love for science and lab experience with investing.
“As a trained virologist, seeing this pandemic first-hand has been extraordinary. It is my belief that biotechnology is as exciting as Amazon or Afterpay but does not get the same attention.”
According to FE Analytics, within the Australian Core Strategies universe, over one year to 31 July, 2020, the Platinum International Health Care fund has returned 29.6% versus returns by the specialist sector of 7.3% and it had returned 10.9% since the start of 2020 versus sector returns of 2.8%.
The fund’s benchmark – MSCI ACWI Healthcare – returned 4.7% since the start of the year and 15.9% over one year.
Ogden said she had used the pandemic to pick up stocks which were trading cheaper than usual and that the fund had recovered well from the downturn.
“We added to many holdings during the early stages of the pandemic. Many biotechs have successfully strengthened their balance sheets and we have seen a very positive IPO market for new biotechs in the US and China,” she said.
“Given the ongoing viral outbreaks, expectations for elective surgery volumes continue to fluctuate and so do share prices of the respective companies selling surgery-related devices. We had opportunistically added some device makers to the portfolio at the low point of the market and trimmed a little upon their recovery.”
Writing in a quarterly fund update, she said she felt biotech companies should be considered in the same way as technology ones, which tended to receive far more publicity.
“We are obviously biased but we believe that biotech companies should be considered alongside technology companies when considering investment opportunities. It is our belief that in the coming decade, biotech will change the way healthcare is provided and have a profound impact on our longevity and quality of life,” Ogden said.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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