There was no catching Chris Reilly of Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) in the final month of this year's Rehab Great Investment Race
Not only did he have the biggest monthly gain of 9.6 per cent in May, but his overall increase of 47.8 per cent left his six competitors well in the shade.
The investment gain, which gave Mr Reilly his second victory in the Rehab competition, came on a 100 per cent holding in US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
Mr Reilly first invested in Pfizer in January, having started the race a year ago with a full holding in Greencore.
The shift into US assets was particularly positive for BIAM because of its associated dollar play. Having sold Pfizer on the final day of the race, Mr Reilly said yesterday that the stock remained "a reasonable bet".
The collective gain for Rehab from the race as it closed on the last day of May was €152,661. On the initial investment allocation of €700,000, this represented a gain of 22 per cent - a very respectable result given the volatility that has undermined markets for much of the past year.
Second place in the final analysis went to Montgomery Oppenheim, which leap-frogged up from fourth position over the final weeks of the race. The jump came on investments in IT company Avaya and metal industry supplier Foseca. Montgomery also bought into Iona over the month, helping to deliver a gain for May of 7.3 per cent and an overall increase of 28.2 per cent.
This result pushed Hibernian Investment Managers down from second to third position, with a still very creditable overall increase of 27.9 per cent. Roy Asher kept two stocks - DCC and UK housebuilder Westbury - for the final month, but neither performed as well as he had hoped. Westbury had been a particular pick because of takeover speculation, but it ended more or less flat after no deal emerged.
Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) also moved down a place in May, finishing in the fourth spot. ILIM's allocation was flat in May, leaving Séamus Magner's overall gain at 23 per cent.
Mr Magner was the race's most active player over the final weeks. He did well on trades in Man Group, Nepost and Pages Jaune, but fared worse on Adecco and Vodafone. Holding fifth position on May 31st was Setanta Asset Management. Fund manager James McSweeney was also active, buying and selling stocks such as Allianz, IBM and Sears, as well as positions in a number of exchange-traded funds. He got the rally he had been expecting for some time in the final two weeks of the race, acknowledging that it may have come a little late for the benefit of Rehab.
Mr McSweeney delivered a 5.6 per cent gain in May and a 17.6 per cent return across the race as a whole. AIB Investment Managers also held its spot last month, finishing in sixth position with an overall return of 14 per cent. Tony Hood at Standard Life finished the race in seventh position after his allocation ended 5.9 per cent in the red. May was ironically one of Mr Hood's best months, with his allocation gaining 5.5 per cent over the month on a position in Hanson.
