Funding position improves at Dorset
0Dorset’s pension fund’s administrator’s report for the end of December 2018 shows that it was 91.3% funded.
This has risen from 83.2% at the last triennial valuation at end-March 2016.
The value of the fund fell by 0.3% over the period from end-March to end-December 2018, to £2,844m, compared with its strategic benchmark return of 1.5%.
Dorset’s fund has just about kept pace with its benchmark over the past five years, returning an annualised 7.6%, against the benchmark’s 7.7%.
The fund has a target equity allocation of 45.0%, and at the end of December 2018 had reduced its exposure to 46.5% from 50.5% at the end of March.
In September 2017 the pension committee agreed to a number of changes to its strategic asset allocation, including an increased exposure to diversified growth funds.
Dorset’s current allocation to these is 5.8%, against a target of 8.0%.
Its internally managed passive UK equity portfolio and its Allianz-managed global equity portfolio were transferred to the Brunel portfolios managed by Legal and General Investment Management in July 2018.
The performance figures come from the new quarterly indicative updates which the fund has asked its actuary Barnett Waddingham to provide, in addition to the three-year full assessment.
