Investment objective
The investment objective is to generate superior returns for Unit holders by investing in global markets, with a focus on reducing risk and preserving capital.
Investment Strategy
The Defender Global Fund (Fund) provides investors with exposure to global markets through a long and short strategy. The Fund starts with the Manager’s global macroeconomic and market outlook, then overlays the key thematics the Manager believes will affect future performance, and combines this with a bottom-up investment decision criteria.
Performance Summary
| Entry NAV Price | $1.2263 |
| Quarter portfolio return | +14.9% |
Commentary
The Defender Global Fund returned +14.9% in Q1 CY2026.
Financial Markets Report: Q1 CY2026
The first quarter of 2026 broke a three-quarter winning streak for US equities. After the AI-led melt-up of late 2025, markets confronted a sharp shift in geopolitics and interest-rate expectations. What began as a quiet January turned into a bruising March, and the quarter closed with growth stocks down and defensive assets bid.
US Market Overview:
The S&P 500 fell roughly 4.3% for the quarter, its weakest three months since Q1 2022, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped about 5.8%. The pain was concentrated: January was modestly positive, February roughly flat, and March delivered the damage. Growth as a style fell close to 10%, while value gained around 2% and small caps held small positive quarters — a textbook rotation out of the crowded winners. The trigger was a March escalation of the US-Iran conflict and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, which spiked oil, drove Treasury yields higher and forced a broad, correlated de-risking across the market. A late-March rally on ceasefire hopes limited the losses but did not repair the damage to sentiment.
The Portfolio:
US:
After eighteen months in which owning the AI infrastructure names was the only trade that mattered, Q1 was a reminder that even the best businesses de-rate when the cost of capital moves against them. The mega-cap complex we hold — Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and NVIDIA — was down across the board over the quarter as rising yields compressed long-duration valuations. Nothing changed in the underlying fundamentals; the hyperscaler capex cycle and the demand for accelerated compute remain intact. What changed was the discount rate. We used the weakness to keep our core positioning rather than chase the de-risking, on the view that the industrialisation of intelligence is a multi-year build-out, not a single-quarter trade.
Beneath the SharonAI step-up, the operating portfolio lost roughly $0.9m over the quarter. Every major listed equity fell: the US mega-caps gave back around $315k between them, Pershing Square Holdings lost $268k, our ZIP position cost $152k as we trimmed into weakness, and the index ETFs lost $141k. A $283k revaluation of our private holding in Lyka Pet Food, together with income from the Credit Fund and the Digital Income Fund, were the only offsets of size. We also cleaned up the book during the quarter — exiting Meeka Metals, consolidating the Cobre position, and running cash down to a very low level as we stayed close to fully invested.
ASX and Gold
Gold did its job as a portfolio ballast for most of the quarter, running to fresh highs before fading roughly 11% in March as the late-quarter risk rally pulled capital back toward equities. It still finished Q1 up around 7%. Our modest exposure to gold producers on the ASX rode the mid-quarter surge before giving some back into the March fade.
The Australian Economy
At home the Reserve Bank turned decisively hawkish. The RBA lifted the cash rate twice in the quarter — to 3.85% in early February and to 4.10% on a split board vote in mid-March — as February inflation printed at 3.7%, above the 2-3% target band, with fuel prices adding directly to the number. The ASX 200 finished roughly flat at the index level but the composition was violent underneath: the technology sector fell about 12.5% in March and near 28% for the quarter, an eighth straight losing month, while energy led on the oil spike. A hawkish central bank and a de-rating tech sector are a difficult backdrop for a growth-tilted book, and it showed in our operating performance.
Looking Ahead
The March quarter was a useful stress test. It reminded us that concentration in the AI winners cuts both ways, and that a single hawkish central bank meeting or geopolitical shock can undo a quarter of gains in the crowded names. We enter the June quarter with our core AI infrastructure positioning intact, a large unrealised position in SharonAI whose real story we believe is still to come, and a watchful eye on the interplay between energy prices, the RBA and the durability of the US soft landing. The question for 2026 is shifting from who is buying the GPUs to who is actually making money with them — and we are positioning the book accordingly.
Regards,
The Defender Global Team
Key Information
Sector allocation
31 March 2026
Important Notice
This report has been prepared by Defender Capital Pty Ltd, operating under a Corporate Authorised Representative agreement of Defender Asset Management Limited (AFSL 482722), Fund Manager of the Defender Global Fund, without taking into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of individuals, and is prepared only for wholesale investors. Before making an investment decision about the Fund, investors should read the Fund’s Information Memorandum available at the Fund’s website and obtain advice from an appropriate financial adviser.
This information is current as at the date of publication and has been prepared based on information believed to be accurate at the time. Assumptions and estimates may have been made which may prove not to be accurate. To the full extent permitted by law, neither the Fund Manager, the trustee nor any related entity makes any warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information in this newsletter, and each disclaims all liability that may arise from it being inaccurate, unreliable or incomplete.
The Simple Dietz return shown is calculated on the investment portfolio and is affected by intra-period capital flows and the non-cash SharonAI conversion described above; it should not be read as a Unit holder return. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. No performance is forecast.