Fund Objective

To achieve capital growth with a low running yield.

View on Past Performance

Credit crunch concerns impacted a number of areas of the market including real estate, where our holdings in CLS and Wichford suffered. Recruitment company Imprint missed its numbers and a potential bid failed to materialise, adding to generally negative sentiment towards the sector.On the positive side, our holdings within the oil and gas sector helped performance as oil prices remained high, with Oilexco, Bowleven and Ithaca Energy outperforming, the latter also announcing encouraging results from its Athena well. Mining companies such as First Quantum Minerals continued to benefit from strong demand from emerging economies such as China, while shares of engineering company Morgan Crucible rose as the market appreciated the margin expansion potential within the business.

Future Expectations

UK equities continue to be affected by events in the credit markets that have led to increased volatility across equity markets globally. While we expect to see further volatility in the short term, we believe that the fundamental economic backdrop remains fairly robust.Concerns over higher commodity prices leading to inflationary pressures, a weak UK consumer and the scale of the US economy slowdown all continue to act as potential headwinds. Focus on stock selection will continue to be crucial in such an environment and we will invest accordingly.

Fund Details