Irish pension funds delivered another positive performance during April, having delivered the first positive month since August 2008 in March. As a result, pension funds are in the black for the first time in 2009.

Over the month, the average fund delivered a positive return of 8.7%. Irish Life Investment Managers was the best performing manager during April, with a return of 11.3%. AIB Investment Managers delivered the worst performance over the month, with a return of 7.0%. Over the first four months of 2009, returns are also positive with the average fund having returned 3.0% over this period. In the four months to the end of April, returns ranged from 7.3% (Merrion Investment Managers) to -0.8% (AIB Investment Managers).

Over the past twelve months, the average fund returned -27.2%, with returns ranging from -22.6% (Eagle Star) to -32.7% (Aviva Investors).

The average managed fund return has been an extremely disappointing -11.2% per annum over the past three years. The five year returns to the end of April are also negative, with the average managed fund delivering a return of -1.0% per annum over this period.

Fiona Daly, Managing Director of Rubicon Investment Consultingcommented: "Irish group pension managed fund returns over the past ten years have been a very disappointing -0.4% per annum on average, well below the Irish inflation rate of 3.4% per annum over the same time horizon. Indeed, none of the managers surveyed outperformed inflation over this period, with less than half of the fund managers delivering positive returns."