Fund Objective

The Fund aims to achieve above average capital growth.

View on Past Performance

The market fell sharply in September. Concerns over inflation have given way to worries over poor growth and problems in the banking system. Consumer goods and healthcare were amongst the best sectors - the fund is slightly underweight the former and overweight the latter. We remain overweight in industrials and underweight in financials. Overall, the fund's sector allocation was modestly beneficial.Stock selection was also positive. Key stocks that added value were BNP Paribas (quality bank) and Fresenius (dialysis provider; medtech is a defensive area). However, Bank of Ireland (Irish economy under pressure) and Saipem (victim of falling oil price) detracted from performance.We bought Lloyds TSB (reducing the successful bank underweighting via a quality stock) and Bank of Ireland (good value and a geared play on a solution to the banking crisis). We sold Tesco and HSBC after good relative performance.

Future Expectations

We remain cautious on markets, but inflation is less of a concern and may already have peaked. We are more worried about the problems in financial markets along with slowing growth and rising unemployment across Europe. The fund remains defensively positioned.

Fund Details