Fund Objective

The Fund'’s objective is to achieve above average capital growth.

View on Past Performance

There were a number of global industrial sectors whose value fell notably in the month but where the fund's sector representatives realised a positive return thanks to a number of key portfolio holdings. These included real estate (China Overseas Land rose strongly), food (Numico was bid for by Danone),and software (Nintendo carried on rising on the success of its Wii games product). The fund's sector and geographical positioning was also beneficial, mainly in the over benchmark weight in the Asian markets and in the relatively low weight in the global financial sector.Given the sharp swings in the market there is perhaps an argument for normalising the fund's positioning in the financial sector at what appears to be much cheaper levels. However, whilst evidence mounts of a turn in the bank credit cycle and the associated deterioration in financing activities, we will for the time being retain our relatively cautious stance.

Future Expectations

Global investment conditions are such that liquidity is likely to continue to be channelled into property and private equity funds, and the anticipation of this flow of liquidity should underpin the markets this year. Overall, despite recent turbulence, we continue to believe that the strong economic and corporate profit conditions will be supportive of equity markets in the medium term.

Fund Details