Irish pension funds consolidated last month’s gains with a tasty performance during October, resulting in an average gain of 2.7% over the month. Davy Asset Management turned in the best performance this month with a gain of 3.4%, while Friends First/BMO delivered the worst, with a return of 2.2%.

So far this year, pension funds have gained a very respectable 7.0% on average. Returns for the year to date ranged from 9.3% (Standard Life Investments) to 5.9% (Davy Asset Management and Merrion Investment Managers). Over the past twelve months the average fund return was 12.5%. Zurich Life top the table over the past year with a return of 14.9%, while Davy Asset Management produced the lowest return at 10.3%.

The average managed fund return has been a healthy 8.9% per annum over the past three years. The five-year average return is a strong 11.4% per annum. Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been 4.7% per annum on average.