The fund has stuck with Mawson and Iris in the belief they will recover. It was remarkable that Iris said this week it earned revenue of $21,823 for each bitcoin mined in July, and it cost $8836 to mine each bitcoin.
The fund has taken a point on decentralized finance with an investment in the DACM Global Digital Asset Fund run by former JP Morgan banker, Richard Galvin.
Also, the fund has invested in a start-up founded by Bryce Leske and Alec Renehan called Equity Mates, which specializes in podcasts for young investors. Its revenue rose 177 per cent in the year to June and its total audience increased 39 per cent compared to the previous year.
The trustees of the fund have benefited from the paid advice provided by Charlie Viola at Pitcher Partners. He recommended the strategy of increasing the proportion of unlisted assets in the fund.
This worked in 2022 because these assets were negatively correlated to markets. Selected assets and their returns were: Elara Village 5 per cent, Kingsmede Brisbane Industrial Trust 29.87 per cent, Stirling Northumberland St 14.61 per cent, Acure Northwest Plaza 7.58 per cent and JP Morgan Global Transport fund 6.23 per cent.
The fund will continue to add real assets to the portfolio to achieve greater diversification and higher income.
Domestic shares did reasonably well thanks to the performance of Macquarie Group, Transurban and Atlas Arteria. They generated an above market return and in one case it was because of good luck.
Atlas Arteria soared in June and ended the 2022 financial year with a share price gain of 30 per cent thanks to interest from IFM Investors, which has taken a 15 per cent stake. IFM indicated it might make a takeover offer, but walked away.
The inherent focus on growth in the fund has worked out well in the past six weeks. Rising share prices here and overseas have meant the fund has made up about two thirds of the losses in the last financial year.
Over the long term the fund has beaten its benchmark. Media Super’s balanced fund has returned 8.7 per cent a year over the past 10 years compared to the Chook Super Fund’s 9.89 per cent return per annum over the past 11 years.