In May, the Australian Growth Fund rose +6.1%, compared to the benchmark index which returned +4.1%.  

The Australian share market continued to rebound strongly in May, alongside global equities, as tariff fears abated. All sectors of the ASX200 index finished the month with positive returns. Information Technology (+19.8%) was the best performing sector, helped in part by strong share price performance from WiseTech and Xero.  Energy (+8.6%), Communication Services (+5.5%) which was buoyed by SEEK’s investor day, and Real Estate (+5.1%) also delivered strong returns in the month.  

WiseTech (+21% in A$) share price rose strongly in May, underpinned by receding trade tensions between China and the US, and the announcement of a US$2.1bn acquisition of US software business E2open.  Tempering this good news, WiseTech has delayed the roll-out of a new software product. It will finesse the product further to broaden its functionality and appeal for a wider range of customers. This is in keeping with the company’s mantra of ‘slower today, faster forever’. Whilst this may weigh on the pace of earnings growth in the short-term, we think WiseTech’s new products will be well received by customers and will add meaningfully to profit growth in the future. Although it is still early days, we are encouraged by the acquisition of E2open. WiseTech seems to have opportunistically acquired the company at an attractive price. The complementary nature of its software products broadens WiseTech’s reach across global logistics participants and has the potential to accelerate its growth in the future. 

Atlassian (-9.6%) was our worst performing company in the month. During the month, Atlassian delivered its quarterly financial result for the first quarter of 2025. Although the share price fell in the wake of the earnings announcement, the result was in line with Atlassian's earning guidance and in line with our expectations. The company continues to grow strongly, helped by customer migration to its cloud product suite. Adoption of its cloud products by its customers continues to exceed expectations, and the company reiterated 2025 Financial Year  revenue guidance of +19% growth for the year - the upper end of its guidance range announced in January.  We think Atlassian is well placed to continue growing earnings strongly in the next few years.