Benefits August 19, 2004

ESOPs Prove Profitable for Business

August 19, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Nearly nine out of 10 (88%) companies said creating employee ownership through an ESOP (employee stockownership plan) was "a good decision that has helped the company."
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Asked to quantify how the presence of an ESOP improved business performance, 65% of survey respondents indicated a better performance in 2003 relative to 2002, and 12% said performance was nearly identical, according to the Employee Ownership Foundation’s 13 th Annual ESOP Economic Performance Survey.

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Looking at other business measures, 70% of the survey sample indicated that revenue increased in 2003, compared to 30% indicating revenue did not increase. Additionally, 64% indicated that profitability increased, while 36% indicated that profitability did not increase.

“Time and time again, the results demonstrate creating employee-owned companies through ESOPs is good business,” said Foundation President, J. Michael Keeling. “Creating more ownership by employees should be national policy.”

The 2004 EPS was distributed to The ESOP Association’s approximately 1,300 company members in June 2004. The results are based on approximately 375 responses.

Investing August 18, 2004

PerTrac: Hedge Funds 0.65% Lower in July

August 18, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Hedge funds posted an average 0.65% loss in July.
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The top 25% ofhedge funds gained an average 0.58%, while the bottom 25% of hedge funds lostan average 1.57% for the month.  Short Bias sector funds, the month’s topperforming strategy, were up an average of 4.31%, according to the HedgeFund.net-PerTrac Universes.

Other winning strategies in July included Fixed income (non-arbitrage) (1.04%) and Fixed income (arbitrage) (0.74%).   Technology sector funds were July’s worst performing strategy, down 6.27%.   Other losing strategies in July were Long/Short equity (-1.32%) and Value (-1.15%).

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Through July, the year-to-date average gain for hedge funds was 1.43%. Thetop 25% of hedge funds gained 4.32% year-to-date, while the bottom 25% lost anaverage 1.71%. 

In June, hedge funds gained an average 0.27%, with the top 25% of hedgefunds gaining an average of 1.19% and the bottom 25% losing an average 0.44%.

By comparison, the S&P 500was down 3.43% in July.   Year-to-date t he S&P 500 has gained 0.92%.

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