Fund Objective

The fund aims to achieve long term capital growth.

View on Past Performance

Global Emerging markets as measured by the FTSE All World Emerging Market Index fell by 15.2% in Sterling terms during the month. During September the Fund underperformed its benchmark, posting performance of -20.8% also in Sterling terms. The largest positive contributor to performance during the month was the overweight holding in LG Electronics and also Banco Itau.The largest detractors to performance during the month included the overweight holdings in Novolipetsk Steel, Gazprom and Eurasian Natural Resources. Energy and material stocks have suffered as prices have fallen globally as the slow down in the world economy is likely to reduce demand for these resources.

Future Expectations

Overall, emerging market valuations are attractive, but we remain cautious given increased market volatility and uncertainty. We maintain our view that the long-term outlook for emerging markets is positive, based on strong and improving fundamentals at the company level. For example, emerging market companies have low levels of leverage compared to their historical averages and profitability is high.

Fund Details