March wind blows Irish Life into lead

With just two months left to run in the Rehab Great Investment Race and markets looking extremely volatile, competition was fierce among the players in March.

All but one of the seven had shifted position in the overall rankings by the time the month ended, with Séamus Magner of Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) ending up on top.

Mr Magner's dramatic jump from second-last to first came on a monthly gain of 12.4 per cent, bringing his increase to date to almost 30 per cent.

Having started March fully-invested in cash, ILIM's gains came on a broad-based strategy. Mr Magner did particularly well on FBD, which he bought and sold around the time of a share placing at the company. He also bought into tech firm, Infineon, US engineering company, BAE, mobile group, O2, and German engineering conglomerate, RWE.

By the time April began, Irish Life's entire allocation was safely back in cash.

Nipping at Mr Magner's heels with less than half a percentage point gap overall last month was previous leader, Chris Reilly of Bank of Ireland Asset Management. Mr Reilly delivered a 1.9 per cent gain on his position in Pfizer. The growth came on a passive stance, with Mr Reilly making no trades over the month.

Hibernian Investment Managers slipped from second to third position in March as Roy Asher opted to protect his previous gains by locking into cash. Like Mr Reilly, he stayed quiet all month, notching up a 0.1 per cent gain on his cash deposit.

Looking to the final weeks of the race, Mr Asher is currently considering buying into a stock index future or possibly an Irish financial stock.

AIB Investment Managers also dropped one place the month, from third to fourth position. Lance Graham's allocation shed 2.4 per cent during the period. His only buy in March was BMW, which he picked up after selling VNU. The German carmaker offers good potential because of possible share buybacks and the roll out of its new models, in Mr Graham's view. A drag in March came from AIB's mining positions in Xstrata and Antofagasta.

Moving from fourth to fifth spot in March was Montgomery Oppenheim, where Michael Lernihan's allocation fell back by 3.2 per cent. Mr Lernihan's biggest hit came on Iona, which tumbled by about 15 per cent over the month. Outside this, he concentrated on exiting his US holdings in stocks such as Seattle-based IT company, F5 Networks, and US chemical giant, Dow Chemical. He placed the proceeds of the US sales in European play, Deutsche Post, so that he could avoid currency volatility.

Setanta Asset Management was also active in March, as James McSweeney moved down from fifth to sixth position overall. His 3.2 per cent monthly decline came as he bought 13 stocks, sold 10 and held seven into April. Money was made on trades in US retailer, KMart, US drilling firm, Diamond Offshore, and US specialised manufacturer, Graco.

Mr McSweeney fared less well on deals in Argos owner, GUS, consultant, Cap Gemini, and US pharmacy, CVS.

Mr Tony Hood of Standard Life Investments continued to hold the bottom spot in the table in March as his allocation fell by 1.1 per cent. Mr Hood, who is now 5.3 per cent in the red in the overall rankings, held on to his stake in British Airways during the month, making no trades.