Investors' bank Alex
Schretlen Co
Transtrend further, from 51% to 100%. The asset manager
Transtrend is specialised in futures and options markets.
It has an investment portfolio of EUR 2.8 billion which is
hardly correlated with traditional investments such as
equities and bonds.
Robeco's overall performance shows upward trend 1
Measured over a three-year period, most equity investments
outperform their benchmark. Although not all track records
improved over the past year, Robeco can currently boast an
excellent three-year history. Measured over a three-year
period, 87% of all its equity investments outperformed the
benchmark, against the target of 60%, with the percentage
of each business unit exceeding 80%. In 2006, 60% of the
assets invested in equity outperformed the benchmark.
Flagship fund Robeco outperformed the benchmark by
0.2%, while Rolinco's outperformance was 2.8%. The
Robeco Emerging Market equity fund lagged behind the
benchmark. The Harbor International fund, with assets
under management of USD 18.5 billion, did exceptionally
well, outperforming the benchmark by 5.9%.
The fixed-interest portfolios again performed well in 2006,
with average yields outperforming the benchmark by 0.2%.
In the year under review, 86% of assets under management
invested in fixed-interest securities exceeded the benchmark.
Measured over a three-year period, the percentage was 93%.
In 2006, flagship funds Rorento and Lux-o-rente showed
outperformances of 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively. The
Harbor bond fund likewise outperformed the benchmark.
The alternative investment products achieved mixed
results. In 2006, the Hattrick bonds realised a 1.9% negative
return, against a target positive return of 10%. Transtrend's
futures program again realised a sound return in 2006. With
its Enhanced Risk Diversified Risk Programme, Transtrend's
return was 12.0% in 2006 and its annual return over the
past three years averaged 10.2%. Robeco-Sage continued
to perform well. Sage's return exceeded that of the
reference group by 0.4%.
Corporate social responsibility as a dominant
strategy element
Robeco embedded corporate social responsibility (CSR)
to a high degree in its regular investment activities in 2006,
with 'engagement' as the strategy. Under 'engagement',
Robeco enters an constructive dialogue with a large
number of companies in which clients invest. This dialogue
is not restricted to corporate governance, but also covers
social and environmental issues. In 2006, CSR issues were
discussed with approximately 80 enterprises.
In around 40% of the cases, corporate governance was the
subject of discussion, with social and environmental issues
accounting for around 30%. Robeco is convinced of the
importance of CSR in asset management, as is evidenced
by the stake it has acquired in SAM Group.
As a result of the expansion of its engagement services,
Robeco's sustainably managed assets rose from EUR 0.4 billion
to EUR 5.7 billion at the end of 2006, thereby increasing
their proportion of total assets managed from 0.3% at the
end of 2005 to 4% at the end of 2006.
Thanks to the favourable stock exchange climate, Alex had
an excellent year. The number of orders handled increased
by 43% to 3.2 (2.2) million and the number of investor
accounts reached the milestone of 100,000. Due to the
higher number of clients and the positive sentiment in the
stock markets, assets managed grew by 12% to EUR 3.7
(3.3) billion. In 2006, Alex continued its market leadership in
the options market, with a market share of 23.9% (23.6%).
In order to serve its clients in Spain better, Alex opened a
branch office on the Costa del Sol in November 2006.
Activities of this Alex Investor Centre include theme meetings,
workshops and demonstrations. In 2006, Alex started its
own television show for private investors on the RTL 7
channel and was awarded the title of Best Broker 2006 by
Beurs.nl. The Alex Academy training institution was equally
successful in 2006 and provided training to more than
3,300 private investors in 215 Academy training sessions.
Schretlen Co performed highly satisfactorily in 2006.
Its client base grew by 19% to 5,200 (4,400) through close
ties and good collaboration with the local Rabobanks and
because it attracted new clients independently. Due to
the growth in the number of clients and the positive stock
exchange climate, assets managed by Schretlen Co rose
by 15% to EUR 7.5 (6.5) billion.
1 Returns are gross, before deduction of management fees, except
for alternative investment products, whose returns are stated net.
Asset management and investment 49
