During the quarter Gartmore's overweight holdings in Marks & Spencer, Spectris, and Carphone Warehouse contributed most positively to performance. After Carphone Warehouse was introduced to the portfolio, the company's shares rose strongly on optimism about the company's US expansion plans and stated aim to target 3.5 million broadband customers in the UK over the next three years.In consumer goods, being overweight Puma contributed to performance. Puma rose sharply as PPR, the owner of luxury brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, purchased 27% of the company. Following this the share price then traded higher on PPR's offer to acquire the remainder of the company for €5.3 billion.QMA are another recent addition to the portfolio, and in this quarter most of the returns came from the stock picking skills of the manager, although there was also a small benefit from the choices of which industries the manager chose to select his stocks from. T Rowe Price manages the other portion of the Skandia US equity portfolio and provides the mandate with a growth style of investing, complementing QMA's Value approach.First State showed good sector allocation over the period, with stock selection somewhat weaker. Industrials have continued to be one of the overweight sectors for this portfolio, as it was in the first quarter. The decision has added value as a sector call, but not at a stock level. A stock decision that has benefited however is the investment in IOI Corporation, the Malaysian palm oil and construction company, and which continues to be part of the portfolio from last quarter as well.April was a difficult month for Japanese equity managers, but JP Morgan performed in line with the benchmark. May saw stronger returns, and the manager outperformed the main market, with stock selection in particular contributing. During June the manager performed broadly in line with the market as Japanese equities declined. At a sector level the pharmaceutical industry provided some of the weakest performance while the investment in banks was strong.
