(Source: MARKETWIRE)Mirzam Capital Appreciation Fund (NASDAQ: MIRZX), a large capitalization core value mutual fund, reported returns of 26% for the second quarter of 2009, marking its best-performing quarter in its nearly two-year history. The fund's year-to-date return is 12%, outperforming the S&P 500, which averaged just over 3% year-to-date. The fund invests in and holds only companies management believes have compensation practices that support shareholder value, combined with world-class performance.

Mirzam's strategy is to make long-term investments in well-run companies worldwide that forgo excessive compensation and use their free cash flow to grow and increase the value of their businesses, or to distribute that cash to shareholders as dividends. More than 99% of the fund's holdings pay shareholders some portion of their free cash flow in cash dividends.

"We are very satisfied with the fund's performance over the past two quarters, especially because of our long-term investing perspective," said Clifford Morris, founder and managing director of The Mirzam Group. "We were particularly pleased that we generated these returns while pursuing of our strategy of investment decisions based on extensive research, and then holding these stocks for years. We had only a 3 percent portfolio turnover during the past year. We took advantage of the opportunity to grow our portfolio in the first half of 2009 to over 50 holdings by taking positions in several companies we felt represented exceptional long-term value."

Albert Meyer, the fund's lead portfolio manager and president of fund sub-advisor Bastiat Capital, said the fund's performance was bolstered by improving global markets overseas. "Commodities in countries like Brazil, China and India sold off sharply in fourth quarter 2008 as investors sought safety in U.S. Treasuries, which had a negative impact on our non-US holdings and contributed to our trailing 12-month return of -26.8% as of June 30, 2009. However, we've seen a significant stabilization in global markets that contributed to the improved performance of our non-US holdings in first half 2009. We'll continue to benefit if overseas markets continue to do well. For example, the governments in China and India are allocating capital to building infrastructure, which will create demand for steel and copper, which we hold.

"Despite the continuing soft economy in the United States, U.S. markets rallied in the first half from excessive over-selling, which helped our US holdings.