SMSFs are a better bet than rival super funds; Shell sells its stake in Woodside; Midday roundup

Self-managed super funds have significantly outperformed their APRA-regulated rivals in six out of the past eight years, reports the Australian.

A report from National Australia Bank shows that on average SMSFs had beaten APRA-regulated funds by 22.5% over the period, after paying all costs.

The numbers indicate a $500,000 investment in an SMSF at the start of the 2004-05 financial year would have returned $345,571 net by the end of the 2012 financial year, compared with the average APRA-regulated fund returning $190,100 net.

Recent figures from the Australian Taxation Office show SMSFs have grown by 26.5% to reach more than 1 million members.

The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) chief executive Andrea Slattery said recently: “The number of trustees and members exceeding 1 million is an important milestone for the SMSF industry, clearly demonstrating that there is a growing number of people wanting to take direct responsibility for their retirement savings”.

David Gall, executive general manager of banking and wealth solutions at NAB, told the Australian the results showed SMSFs were not a one-hit wonder.

Shell sells its stake in Woodside

Oil giant Shell has sold part of its stake in Woodside Petroleum for $5.3 billion, reports Fairfax.

Shell announced today it was selling 19% of its stake in the Perth-based oil and gas company, or 78.27 million shares, through an underwritten sell-down to investors and Woodside.

Woodside shares, which closed on Monday at $42.85, went into a trading halt this morning to allow Shell to sell.

The company has now reduced its holding from 23% to just 4.5%, with Woodside buying back half of the shares.

Aussie stocks down on open

Australian stocks have opened lower this morning, despite Wall St’s slight lift overnight.

“There was little change in the level of major US equity indices overnight, and certainly not enough to put the ASX 200 in a position to begin clawing back the 100 points it has lost in the last couple of weeks,” says Scott Schuberg, chief executive of Rivkin.

The S&P/ASX200 was down 10.2 points to 5402.1 points at 11:55am AEDT. On Monday, the Dow Jones closed 5.27 points higher, up 0.03% to 16,781.0 points.