NETHERLANDS – The €4.1bn industry-wide pension fund PNO Media reported an annual return of 15.2% after returning 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The 35.8% equity portfolio and 5% private equity holdings were the chief contributors to the performance, returning 17.5% and 14.1%, respectively.

The scheme's fixed income investments returned 9.9%, with credit and US dollar-denominated emerging market bonds faring best, returning 13.8% and 17.1%, respectively.

Emerging market bonds denominated in local currencies fell by 3.2%.

The pension fund also reported a 1.9% loss on its 9.3% allocation to indirect real estate.

Investments in government bonds, Dutch residential mortgages and microfinance returned 9.1%, 3.9% and 9.3%, respectively, while the 2% infrastructure portfolio returned 10%.

Jeroen van der Put, director at PNO Media, took pains to emphasise that the scheme's investments had only been made recently.

"The available assets have now been fully invested, and the starting costs are now behind us," he added. "Our aim is a return of 6% on average over 10 years."

PNO's hedge of the interest risk on its liabilities and its currency hedge contributed 3.7 and 0.2 percentage points to the annual result.

However, the fund's coverage ratio failed to improve beyond the 95.6% reported at year-end, following an additional provision for rising life expectancy equating to almost 2.3 percentage points.

PNO has 52,000 participants and is affiliated with 525 employers.

The €200m industry-wide pension fund for the film and cinema sector joined the scheme last year.

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