Value managers of Australian equities are waiting for the real economy to catch up with their portfolios. SIMON MUMME speaks with some value veterans about the prospects of a big recovery for their style.

Their results became public knowledge in mid-October. Value managers, the traditional preservers of capital in tough times, have registered their one-year gross performance figures since the onset of the bear market: some outperformed the market by 6 per cent or more, others hovered close to the index. Some lagged it.

Investors Mutual and Maple-Brown Abbott recorded the top returns among value managers for the year ending September 30, returning -20.6 per cent and -20.7 per cent respectively, against the –26.76 loss from the benchmark ASX200. Further down the rankings, Dimensional posted -21.0 per cent and Tyndall –23.8 per cent, while Bernstein underperformed, losing investors 29.8 per cent for the year.