According to the Norwegian Fund and Asset Management Association, the local industry has seen total outflows of over NOK165 billion ($26.9 billion), with inflows only reaching NOK30.34 billion by 30 September 2013. Yet, the industry is still going strong, reporting that its total assets under management have reached NOK652 billion, a NOK95 billion or 17 per cent increase since the New Year.

Key Norwegian fund manager records mixed results

This was reflected in the latest fund results from one of the largest fund managers in Norway, .

For instance, the firm’s flagship fund, SKAGEN Global, underperformed its benchmark index in November, with the fund decreasing 1.3 per cent compared to the MSCI All Country World Index’s 0.4 per cent drop. The poor performance is symptomatic of the fund’s entire year, up 18.4 per cent year-to-date and still 1.6 percentage points behind the index.

SKAGEN Kon-Tiki outperformed the benchmark index in November even though the fund was down 1.9 per cent measured in GBP. In comparison, the MSCI Emerging Markets index was down 3.2 per cent. Year-to-date, the fund is up 8.1 per cent, which is well ahead of the benchmark index, which is currently down 2.0 per cent.

SKAGEN Vekst, which invests in undervalued, under-researched and unpopular companies, the majority of which are based in Norway, ended the month down 1.0 per cent. This compares with a decrease of 1.7 per cent for the fund’s benchmark indices, the OSEBX and MSCI AC World. As such, SKAGEN Vekst is up 13.8 per cent so far this year, lagging behind the benchmark’s 15.3 per cent increase. However, the firm did say that previous years had shown strong inflows in December, and while not expecting a full turn-around, the firm is hoping for a strong pick-up for the fund in the last weeks of 2013.  

Similarly, the firm’s equity fund also took a hit in November as global real estate equity markets decreased 5 per cent and are now down 1.6 per cent year-to-date. The SKAGEN m2 was down 7.2 per cent in November underperforming the benchmark by 2.2 per cent and is now down 1 per cent for this year so far.

Sweden & Denmark enjoy record flows

Looking more broadly at Scandinavia and in comparison, the Swedish asset and fund management industry performed well in November, with total inflows to investment funds amounting to SEK3.2 billion ($488.9 million). So far in 2013, total net sales of funds amount to SEK66 billion. In addition, the total assets under management increased to SEK2.443 trillion ($373.3 billion), which, again, constitutes the highest AUM figure ever recorded in Sweden.

Similarly, the Danish industry is experiencing its strongest year since 2005, with total inflows reaching DKK123 billion ($22.67 billion) in the first 11 months of 2013 - the greatest amount of inflows in eight years. This brings the total assets in Danish funds to DKK1.387 trillion, a significant increase from 2012’s DKK1.214 trillion.