A new high for the Ernst & Young Return Index

Friday 19th December  2008                                                                        PRESS RELEASE

A new high for the Ernst & Young New Zealand Absolute Return Index.

The Ernst and Young New Zealand Absolute Return index surged to a new high in November 2008, gaining +1.502% for the month, putting year-to-date performance at +17.597%, and year-on-year performance at +21.104%.

As with October, it was the trend-following, tail risk, volatility and commodity managers that saw positive returns, whilst global equities were weaker in line with global equity indices.

New Zealand Absolute Return Association (NZARA) Chairman Anthony Limbrick, who is also Chief Investment Officer of Pure Capital, one of the contributing managers, said "we are close to completing our first calendar year of record-keeping for the index and it is heartening to see such a strong ensemble performance from the constituent managers".

The Ernst and Young New Zealand Absolute Return Index is based on a concept of simple averages i.e. each of the eight constituent managers presents an "NZARA Average", an average of the performance of all their funds or programs that are available for new money. In some cases a manager is presenting an average of several products. This collection of averages is then compiled again as a simple average to create the index. Ernst and Young compiles the index but is not a verification agent and does not guarantee the veracity of the performance numbers presented by the individual managers.

For further information please go to the NZARA website at www.nzara.org.

The index documentation was compiled by law firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.

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