Livewire.

With top-tier returns across two funds, Ophir’s Andrew Mitchell explains the stock stories, signals, and strategy that made FY25 a success.

Writing about fund performance – especially over a one-year period – is a nuanced task. Whilst we like to celebrate a job well done, the fact that fund performance should typically be viewed over at least a three (if not five) year period is not lost on us here at Livewire.

So, we temper our enthusiasm, disclaim accordingly, and make sure not to gild the lily. Every so often, however, a fund rises to the top of the short-term tables while also maintaining solid three- and five-year performance.

Even rarer is a manager that makes it into the top 10 across two different categories. But that’s the position Ophir Asset Management found itself in at the end of the 2025 financial year, with the best-performing Aussie equity fund in the Livewire database, the Ophir Opportunities Fund, which delivered a 39.2% return, and the second-best global equity fund, the Ophir Global Opportunities Fund, which delivered 41.8%. Without adding too much spice, that’s an exceptional feat.

For a deeper dive on the performance, you can check out the following wires:

• The top 10 Aussie equity funds delivered north of 20% last FY (the best nearly doubled it)
• The top 5 global equity funds delivered more than 37% in a volatile FY25

To boot, the Ophir Opportunities Fund has delivered 30.78% p.a. over the past three years, and 23.21% p.a. since inception (12 years), whilst the Ophir Global Opportunities Fund delivered 24.86% p.a. over the past three years and 18.10% p.a. since inception (6 years).

Following these results, I sat down with Co-founder and Senior Portfolio Manager Andrew Mitchell to understand what drove performance over the past 12 months, how he is currently viewing the markets, and a handful of stocks he and his team like.

Art, science, and the conviction to hold

For Mitchell, the FY25 success boils down to the basics: stock picking and position sizing.

“Stocks and position sizing – we got both of those things right.”

“In Australia, there were far fewer winners last year, so it was a challenging year. But we were fortunate to do the work and have conviction on those winners,” added Mitchell.

Even in global markets, where opportunities were more abundant, the fund’s beta (or market exposure) was a modest 1.05.

“We weren’t taking much market risk. In fact, we faced about a 6% headwind from factor exposure, so we really had to get our stocks right”, noted Mitchell

When asked about the balance between science (data-driven analytics) and art (market feel) when it comes to stock picking and position sizing, Mitchell was candid.

“There’s a lot of art”, he explained. “It’s an intangible, but very valuable. But as we progress, we’re trying to make it more science: replicable, process-driven, backed by data.”

According to Mitchell, the Ophir philosophy isn’t just about decision-making at the top. “The trick for me is to train all our staff so they can make calls and refer them up in a way that Steve [Co-founder and Portfolio Manager, Steven Ng] and I understand,” Mitchell added.

Lessons, risks, and managing time

Even in a standout year, Mitchell is reflective.

“We made mistakes, and they get masked by the winners. But we could have doubled down on the extra work – talking to customers and suppliers instead of just cycling through mindless meetings with companies,” he admitted.

“We’re always refining our process. The market gets more efficient every year – if we don’t get better, we’ll be roadkill.”

Mitchell also highlighted time as a critical constraint: “There’s no point spending endless time on a company because it’s hard to understand. Sometimes it’s best to just sell early if your thesis isn’t playing out.”

This awareness extends to market conditions. Despite a volatile macro backdrop, including Trump’s Liberation Day announcement and geopolitical tensions, Mitchell sees opportunity.

“The market has climbed a wall of worry. There’s always a reason not to invest. But we didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. We stayed fully invested and found opportunities,” he said. Importantly, “the Fed is at 4.5% – they’ve got room to cut. So I’m optimistic for the next 12 months.”

That said, vigilance is non-negotiable. “Only the paranoid survive,” quipped Mitchell.

“We’re always hyper-aware, watching employment data, yield curves, and economic indicators. You’ve got to be prepared if something goes really wrong.”

Stock stories: conviction at work

Mitchell emphasised that the team’s winners this year weren’t just lucky picks. Rather, they were the result of deep work, giving the team the confidence to hold in the face of fear.

“You can’t buy conviction if you haven’t done the work,” said Mitchell

“All our best winners had big negative headlines at some point, but we held through because we’d done the research”.

Life360 (ASX: 360)

A long-time holding in the Australian portfolio, Life360 stands out as a rare platform-style, B2C business in Australia.

“They’ve got that virality. Customer acquisition costs are low. Once they really start flexing the platform – advertising, pet, aged care – it’s going to surprise everyone,” Mitchell said.

While acknowledging the stock’s rerated multiple, he remains confident in its long-term optionality and monetisation potential.

Generation Development Group (ASX: GDG)

A less discussed but standout performer, Generation Development Group stands to benefit from its acquisitions of Evidentia and Lonsec.

“We’d done our work in the asset consulting industry. It’s a scale business, and they’ve now got a huge lead,” Mitchell said.

“That gives them leverage with the IFAs that use them. It’s got a long runway.”

Ophir also participated in a capital raise, backing the consolidation play at attractive terms.

Stride (NYSE: LRN)

The best performer in the global portfolio, Stride offers online education – initially overlooked as a COVID beneficiary.

“No one wanted to see Stride at a conference post-COVID. But we did, and the business kept growing,” Mitchell said.

“Then a short report hit on fears of funding cuts. But we’d done the work and it turned out the concerns were unfounded. The stock got smoked, then surged on results.”

Stride is now a multi-bagger and a four-year holding that has richly rewarded Ophir’s conviction.

iRhythm (NASDAQ: IRTC)

This company offers a modern alternative to Holter monitors for heart rhythm detection.

“It’s less invasive, uses superior algorithms, and is gaining market share again,” Mitchell said.

“The exciting part is expansion into primary care, catching arrhythmias early in patients who don’t even know they have them.”

iRhythm was up ~70% in FY25 and was another counter-consensus win.

AAR Corp (NYSE: AIR)

A recent standout in Ophir’s global portfolio, AAR Corp, which provides aircraft maintenance services, has delivered a timely profit upgrade, driven by favourable industry dynamics and strong execution.

AAR is picking up market share, thanks to the combination of aging fleets, delivery delays from Boeing and Airbus, and the ability to get parts where they are needed.

With current market share in the high single digits, Mitchell believes AAR can scale to 20%, offering meaningful upside.

Looking ahead: risks and opportunities

Mitchell warned that the biggest risk in the coming year may be inflation and sticky interest rates.

“We’re all expecting rate cuts, but if inflation doesn’t fall and the 10-year heads toward 5%, that’s a problem,” he said.

“The market wants cuts, Trump wants cuts, and if they don’t come, that ‘wall of worry’ might get steeper.”

On the flipside, the biggest opportunity?

“US small caps,” he said without hesitation.

“They’re trading at their lowest valuation relative to large caps since the 2001 dotcom bubble. The Russell 2000 is still 15% off its highs while the S&P hits records. If earnings revisions pick up and breadth improves, it could be on for young and old.”

Conclusion: hard work, high conviction

Ophir’s standout performance in FY25 is no fluke. It’s the product of process, teamwork, and unshakeable conviction earned through tireless research.

“There’s a lot of strain on relationships from all the travel and work,” Mitchell admitted.

“But we love it. It’s fun. And when you get it right, it’s incredibly rewarding.”

With breadth improving, small caps rebounding, and a playbook that clearly works, Ophir may well be worth watching again in FY26.

To view full article: Inside Ophir’s stellar FY25 with Andrew Mitchell (and 5 stock he likes right now) – Chris Conway | Livewire

By Chris Conway

Financial Standard.

The Ophir Opportunities Fund has outperformed every rival in its category, topping the Australian small-cap fund rankings across all timeframes, according to the latest Mercer investment survey.

The fund has returned 39.6% over one year besting the median fund’s 3.5% return and S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries benchmark’s -1.33%.

Over three years, it’s returned 25% per annum, well ahead of the median fund’s 4.3% return and S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries benchmark’s -0.8%.

Over five years, it’s generated a 30.8% return, outpacing the median fund’s 16% return and S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries benchmark’s 10.2% return.

Over seven years, it’s posted a 22.1% return per annum, eclipsing the median fund’s 8.6% return and S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries benchmark’s 4.5% return.

And across 10 years, it’s returned 23.5% per annum, compared with the median fund’s 9.4% return and benchmark’s 6.3% return.

Since inception in August 2012, the fund has also led the field, delivering an annualised return of 28.7%.

Ophir founder and portfolio manager Andrew Mitchell told Financial Standard that what sets the fund apart isn’t just long-term performance, but the rare ability to also outperform in the short term – something few peers manage.

Mitchell credited Ophir’s consistency to a process that repeatedly identified standout companies early and holding them with conviction.

He said over each two-to-three-year period, the portfolio has featured major winners, including Life360 and Generation Life last year, to Afterpay, a2 Milk, and Magellan in previous cycles.

“The key thing is, we’ve been able to invest in all of them, and got on to them early,” he said.

Though generating strong returns isn’t about just picking the right stocks – it’s about backing them with conviction, he said.

He said that means making them significant positions in the portfolio and staying invested even when sentiment turns. In Australia’s small-cap market, he noted, tall poppy syndrome is alive and well; when a company performs strongly, it often attracts scepticism from investors, short sellers, and those who missed out.

To hold on through that, you need to have done the work and trust your process, he said.

That said, he acknowledged the team isn’t infallible and is constantly learning, adding that it continues to evolve its process.

“We’ve got some fantastic analysts here, and I really make sure that they’re running at the right pace. They’ve got a cadence in a process – they’re looking at a company, building a model, speaking to suppliers, competitors, and customers. They write up a stock thesis, they present it to myself and [Ophir co-founder] Stephen [Ng], we discuss it, and then work out the weight. It’s just rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat – at a good cadence,” he said.

To view full article: The top Australian small-cap fund, year after year | Financial Standard

By Andrew McKean

The Australian Financial Review.

Ophir Asset Management has emerged as the best ASX small cap investor over the past decade after its flagship fund toppled rivals in Mercer’s latest investment survey.

The Opportunities fund, managed by Ophir founders Andrew Mitchell and Steven Ng, returned 39.6 per cent before fees in the 12 months through March, thrashing the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index, which fell 1.3 per cent. It also ranked first over two, three, five, seven and 10-year horizons, returning 23.5 per cent each year over the past decade.

Mitchell attributed the rare feat to nailing the size of the fund’s individual holdings – allocating more weight to high conviction calls and less to riskier stocks.

Early bets in Afterpay and A2 Milk rocketed the fund’s longer-term returns, while more recently the fund’s largest positions in 2024 including Life360, Generational Development, Bravura and Superloop all doubled in value in 12 months.

And while the smaller end of sharemarket has been hit particularly hard by US President Donald Trump’s trade war – the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index plunged 15.5 per cent from peak to trough – Mitchell has used the turbulence to snap up and add to high-quality stocks that had been dumped by rivals.

“We welcome market volatility because in small-cap land where there’s less liquidity, that’s when people panic and sell, and you can pick up a great business at a very discounted price,” he told The Australian Financial Review.

Ophir has topped up its positions in Life360 and Bravura, and added AMA Group to the portfolio.

Mercer’s small-cap survey includes funds that invest in companies listed on the S&P/ASX 300, but excludes the sharemarket’s 100 biggest stocks.

Podium finish

The results show the best performing small cap strategies posted stronger returns than their large cap rivals. Forager’s Australian Shares Fund won Mercer’s main survey by a huge margin, returning 21.7 per cent in the 12 months to March 31. The second-ranked Chester Opportunities Fund rose 13 per cent.

Firetrail’s Small Companies Fund was ranked second in Mercer’s small-cap survey over the past year, returning 22.1 per cent and achieved a podium position across the two and five-year horizons.

The fund benefited from co-portfolio manager Matthew Fist’s background as a mining engineer and has risen the record rally in gold prices through Genesis Minerals and Greatland Gold. Long-term positions in Generational Development, Regis Healthcare and Life360 also boosted performance.

Firetrail’s co-portfolio manager Eleanor Swanson has positioned the portfolio more defensively by allocating more money to real estate stocks such as Aspen, which is now in its top three holdings alongside the gold producers.

She has also lifted the fund’s exposure to healthcare and bought more shares in A2 Milk.

“We’ve taken the view that while it’s pretty amazing that markets have held up so well, the uncertainty created by Trump’s tariffs means we’re expecting more volatility,” Swanson told the Financial Review.

Fist and Swanson have also injected more liquidity into the fund by trimming holdings in its smallest companies and putting more money into larger-capped stocks.

Bronze medal

Ausbil’s Australian Small Cap Fund, which was launched during the pandemic in April 2020, came in third with a one-year return of 18 per cent. It finished in the same position across a two- and three-year timeframe.

Performance was boosted by a strong March quarter as portfolio managers Arden Jennings and Andrew Peros limited exposure to Trump’s trade war. That made sure that less than 20 per cent of the portfolio was directly exposed to US dollar-denominated revenue, and under 10 per cent relied on imports to America.

Like Firetrail, Ausbil benefited from the record rally in gold prices thanks to positions in Genesis Minerals, which surged 50.2 per cent in the first quarter, and Ora Banda Mining, which rallied 67.8 per cent. The fund owns Generation Development Group, which jumped 40.2 per cent.

Jennings and Peros also took advantage of the sell-off in consumer-facing stocks in March and the subsequent rotation into defensive and resource stocks.

“We have been using this as an opportunity to ‘high-grade’ the fund by adding to conviction names such as Light & Wonder, Life360, Codan, and Tuas,” the pair wrote in a quarterly update to clients.

The fund’s top five holdings at the end of March were Aussie Broadband, Codan, Generation Development, Genesis Minerals and Life360.

To view full article: ASX small caps: Ophir dominates small cap rivals to win Mercer’s investment survey

Alex Gluyas is deputy markets editor based in the Melbourne newsroom. Email Alex at alex.gluyas@afr.com

Morningstar.

Andrew Mitchell of Ophir Asset Management on the key rules of investing, some of the fund’s winners and losers, and where he’s finding value now.

To view full article: Lessons from running a fund for 10 years

James Gruber is an assistant editor at Firstlinks and Morningstar.com.au