Steinhoff: Destiny Retirement Funds' Exposure

Steinhoff's financial results, expected to be released on Wednesday, 6 December 2017, were announced as being delayed earlier in the week owing to continuing auditor and regulator investigations into "accounting irregularities" in the company's financial statements. This was followed by the abrupt resignation of Steinhoff's CEO, Markus Jooste, announced late at night before stock markets opened on Wednesday.

Investors, Asset Managers and Trustees are coming to grips with the current and future impact that Steinhoff will have on the market as a whole.

The Destiny Retirement Funds want to reassure you that Steinhoff's losses have not had a material impact on your investment in the Destiny Portfolios. The Portfolios are well diversified, not only across asset classes and underlying investment managers, but also at the underlying equity position which is invested across a multitude of blue chip companies in different sectors of the market.

Steinhoff has been a favourite amongst industry stock pickers and active fund managers recently, but events like this highlight the importance of diversification within the retirement fund industry.

Even though most of the index-tracking portfolios have no choice than to hold Steinhoff, we would like to note that not all of the Destiny Portfolios' active equity managers had exposure to Steinhoff.

The Destiny Portfolios' exposure to Steinhoff range from 1% (Defensive) to 2.3% (Market Enhanced) as at 31 October 2017.

We will continue to monitor the unfolding of events and want to reassure our clients of our ongoing attention to risk management. Should you wish to engage further on this issue or any matter, we welcome your contact.