Fund Objective

To achieve above average long term capital growth.

View on Past Performance

The US dollar rose to $1.80 against the pound from $1.98 at the start of August, amid reports that the US economy was stronger than expected and anticipation of rate cuts in the UK and elsewhere.We had a good contribution from the Health theme this month as the market appreciated the defensive growth characteristics of the area. Pediatrix Medical, Resmed, Henry Schein, Qiagen and others reported strong figures and saw share price appreciation as a result. Solar stocks in our Cleaner Energy theme showed strength as a result of good figures and interest from utilities in building solar farms.This benefited our holdings in JA Solar and SolarWorld. One or two holdings, such as Shimano (Sustainable Transport) and Plant Health Care (Environmental Services), saw their share prices fall on profit taking after strong performance earlier in the year.Clean Energy Brazil fell after the company announced that its subsidiaries had faced delays in raising debt to finance its expansion plans. Miners suffered as metal prices fell on the expectation of lower demand in a weakening global economy, giving a boost to relative performance.We bought into the China South Locomotive (Sustainable Transport) IPO and added to the position in subsequent trading. We see strong prospects for the growth of rail transport in China with the government planning considerable investment in its latest five-year plan. We opened a position in China Medical Technologies (Health), a leading provider of diagnostic tests in China, where we see opportunity for growth.

Future Expectations

We remain relatively defensively positioned in the expectation of further poor macro-economic news flow in the coming months. We continue to seek stocks which will benefit from the growth in the themes, especially where this growth is structural and not dependent on economic conditions.

Fund Details