The Hindu Business Line : Franklin Templeton Prima: Invest

INVESTMENTS can be contemplated in Prima, an open-end growth scheme from Franklin Templeton, as its track record has been good across various time horizons. The fund has generally focussed on mid-cap and small-cap stocks. This pegs the risk profile higher than an average diversified fund. But the returns have more than compensated for the risk.

With stock prices tending lower, this may be good opportunity to buy into such a fund. Investment can probably be phased out using the systematic investment plan to take advantage of further declines in stock prices linked to the imminent war in Iraq.

Prima is aggressively managed, both in terms of sector and stock exposures. The portfolio turnover is around 150 per cent. The following changes were made in March 2003:

Stocks in: The fund added Jubilant Organsys, Procter & Gamble, Divis Lab (through the IPO), Tata Engineering, Hughes Software and Tata Power.

Enhanced exposures: Holdings were stepped up in Heritage Foods, Ashok Leyland, Great Eastern Shipping, LIC Housing Finance, Oriental Bank, Monsanto, Tata Tea, Indian Rayon, Crompton Greaves, Rajasthan Spinning and Tata Chemicals.

Stocks out: Andhra Bank, Arvind Mills, I-Flex Solutions and Balrampur Chini.

Pared exposures: Holdings were reduced in Raymond, UTI Bank, Cummins India, TVS Motor and UB.

Sector exposures: Sector weights were cut in IT, banks and apparel. Pharmaceuticals, fertiliser and engineering holdings were increased marginally.

Fund flows: The fund has had inflows in February with net assets rising by 3.7 per cent and NAV by 1.3 per cent. Net assets were around Rs 100 crore.

Fund facts: Prima was launched in December 1993. The fund offers entry at a load of 2 per cent. There is no exit load. The minimum investment amount is Rs 5,000. The manager is Mr K. N. Siva Subramanian.

S. Vaidya Nathan

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