The three largest pension funds in the Netherlands - ABP, PGGM and PME - have released their latest quarterly portfolio figures, with returns ranging from -0.5% to +0.5%.
Civil service fund ABP says it made a second quarter returns of 0% – leading to a first half return of 4.2%. The size of the fund was stable at E156.9bn, while its coverage ratio stood at 112%.
Healthcare fund PGGM made what it termed a “modest” overall return of 0.5% in the second quarter of 2004 – which it said mainly reflected the positive (0.9%) contribution by equities. Its overall return for the first six months was 4.1%, taking its portfolio to E55.7bn from E54.9bn.
It had a second quarter return of -1.1% in fixed income, due to higher interest rates worldwide. “All other asset categories showed a positive return in the second quarter,” said chief investment officer Roderick Munsters.
Metals industry pension fund PME, or Pensioenfonds voor de Metalektro, reported a negative yield on investments in the period. With a -0.5% return in the second quarter, the overall first-half return was 3.8%. The overall coverage ratio slipped to 110% from 112% at the end of the first quarter. PME’s fixed income portfolio - 53% of its assets - returned -1.4% in the quarter.