Djerriwarrh cautions on confidence

One of the country's biggest listed investment companies, Djerriwarrh, has cautioned the market could remain volatile for months, with concerns about a pullback in US quantitative easing, and the coming federal election, likely to keep consumer and business confidence fragile.

The blue-chip investment house, which has more than $850 million in funds under management, said the rally on the local market in the past 12 months had seen a number of call options exercised on some of its major holdings, including in the big banks. That contributed to a 14.7 per cent decline in the fund's full-year profit of $37.7 million, down from $44.1 million over the corresponding period last year.

Djerriwarrh's net operating result - a better measure of the company's ongoing investment, trading and option income - was down 7.5 per cent to $35.1 million, compared with $37.9 million from this time last year. The fund's portfolio return was 19 per cent compared to the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index return of 22.8 per cent.

"We expect a little bit of volatility in the market given what's happening in the US ... and we've got reporting season coming up in the next month or so," Djerriwarrh managing director Geoff Driver said.