Odey Asset Managenment is enjoying 2012, at least in terms of performance for three major funds. Odey is one of the large UK based hedge fund management firms, which has shown better than decent performance in the past months. Odey’s UK Absolute Return Fund was up 4 percent in the month of October, and that outshines the +1.3 percent return on FTSE All Share Total Return index for the same period. The fund’s YTD performance for the first ten months is a handsome 31 percent.
For UK Absolute Return (AUM $544.5 million), the top performing longs were Sports Direct International Plc (LON:SPD), Sky Deutschland AG (ETR:SKYD) (FRA:SKYD), Howden Joinery Group Plc (LON:HWDN), Playtech Ltd (LON:PTEC), International Personal Finance, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX), and shorts on Apr Energy PLC (LON:APR). APR was down 17 percent in LSE in October. As of November, the fund has a short position on 1.7 percent of APR’s outstanding shares. Notably, Odey profited off a short position on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in October. One does not get across a short bet on Apple every day, so Odey’s profits on Apple are commendable. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 10.7 percent last month.
Laggers for the month were long positions in FX Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FXEN), 10 yr bonds, Rockhopper Exploration Plc (LON:RKH), and United Drug PLC (LON:UDG) and shorts in Michelin SCA (EPA:ML) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX:FMG).
Odey Opus Fund was up 2 percent in October, with a +13 percent for the year at the end of October. In comparison, the MSCI World index was down 0.6 percent last month. The top performers for the Opus fund were positions in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and Sky Deutschland AG (ETR:SKYD) (FRA:SKYD), while the detractors were British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (LON:BSY) and Athabasca Oil Corp (TSE:ATH).
The Odey Continental European Fund was up 2.5 percent, with a +8 percent for the first ten months of the year. The best performers were Sky Deutschland AG (ETR:SKYD) (FRA:SKYD) and Volkswagen AG (PINK:VLKAY) (PINK:VLKPY), while the under performers were Swedish Match AB (STO:SWMA) and Technip (PINK:TKPPY) (EPA:TEC).
Other Short Positions
Odey Asset Management’s other short positions, as disclosed for the month of November, are in Home Retail Group Plc (LON:HOME), Capital Shopping Centres Group plc (LON:CSCG), Dignity Plc (LON:DTY), Lonmin Plc (LON:LMI) (PINK:LNMIY), Serco Group plc (LON:SRP), and Trinity Mirror plc (LON:TNI) (PINK:TNMRY).
