Highlights and let-downs from small-cap reporting

It’s been a pretty ordinary decade for the ASX Small Ordinaries Index, which remains more than 30% below its 2007 peak. However, it’s a market that’s ripe for producing alpha; according to Lonsec, all but one of the small cap managers in their coverage outperformed their benchmark over five and seven-year periods.  In this small-cap special edition, Matthew Kidman from Centennial Funds hosts David Allingham from Eley Griffiths and Dawn Kanelleas from Colonial First State Global Asset Management.

Key points:

• It’s tough to find organic growth in Australia
• 32% of Small Ordinaries were not listed 5 years ago
• Momentum was rewarded over long-term investment this reporting season
• Seven Group (SVW) benefitting from mining recovery via Caterpillar franchise
• Monadelphous (MND) and Worley Parsons (WOR) still under pressure and not yet demonstrating top-line growth
• Retail remains challenging.

In the full video above, each of our panellists shares a standout result and a disappointing result from the August reporting season.