Fund Objective

The fund aims to achieve long term capital growth.

View on Past Performance

Global equity markets slumped in October as the escalating crisis in financial markets raised concerns about a very severe economic slowdown. At a sector level, Materials was again a significant underperformer on further commodity price weakness. The defensive Health Care and Consumer Staples sectors outperformed as investors sought companies with relatively predictable earnings.Performance was positively impacted by oil stock Total (Europe) as investors were attracted by the company's steady cash flows. On the negative side, Vestas Wind Systems (Europe: Industrials) declined on concerns about the impact of the credit crunch on demand for their products. In the Energy sector we sold Marathon Oil (US) due to its high cost operations and reinvested the proceeds into attractively valued Total.

Future Expectations

We expect to see some very poor corporate and economic data in the near future and we believe that the speed and severity of the slowdown will continue to surprise the market. On the positive side global interest rates are expected to fall further and governments will act to ensure that banking systems continue to function.

Fund Details