Bâtirente’s diversified funds lost between 5.7 per cent and 8.6 per cent in 2022 as a result of tumultuous conditions in the global economy, according to its latest results.
“Global inflation reached a 40-year high due to several factors, such as the war in Ukraine, the persisting [coronavirus] pandemic, the world’s supply chain failures and the lack of labour, as well as housing,” said Jean-François Dumais, the organization’s investment strategy manager, in a press release. “Various central banks significantly increased their key interest rate in an aim to reduce the demand for goods and services and slow down this inflation.”
Read: Bâtirente’s diversified funds return between 4.63% and 8.87% in Q2
The losses experienced by particular funds corresponded exactly with their risk profiles, said Dumais, noting funds with more embedded risk lost more than those with less embedded risk.
The losses were most severe in Bâtirente’s equity funds. Its global equity multi fund dipped 11.7 per cent during the year, while its global small-cap equity fund fell by nine per cent. According to Dumais, the emphasis on capital protection for members helped limit these losses. “For example, our global small-cap equity multi fund yielded a return that was 4.3 per cent above its benchmark. Bâtirente’s Canadian equity multi fund had only a 1.3 per cent decrease and managed to yield returns, 4.6 per cent more than its benchmark index.”
He also noted Bâtirente’s losses in fixed income allocations were comparatively small, with its treasury multi fund falling three per cent and its bond multi fund down 8.7 per cent.
According to Dumais, the investment organization isn’t expecting to make any course correction as a result of the losses. “At Bâtirente, we often say that in periods of volatility, one should stay the course and look to the long term. . . . That’s because, for the past 10 years, diversified funds have generated annualized yields varying between 3.6 per cent and 8.5 per cent, well above the inflation rate recorded for that same period.”