Fund Objective

The Fund will seek to achieve an above average rate of income combined with sound prospects for capital growth.

View on Past Performance

September was a month of unprecedented corporate news flow, with a succession of financial sector bail-outs and failures on both sides of the Atlantic further impacting sentiment.The fund's defensive positioning served it well in a falling market. Indeed, the focus on large, highly liquid and financially robust companies increased further during the month via purchases of HSBC and GlaxoSmithKline and, by the end of the month, more than 70% of the portfolio was invested in the top 20 stocks in the index.In terms of sectors, the fund is significantly overweight in healthcare, utilities and telecoms and has no mining holdings. We remain active in financials: having sold out of Prudential during September our key holdings include HSBC, Aviva and Legal & General.

Future Expectations

Whilst we remain cautious on the economy and the market, we are cognisant of the fact that a cut in interest rates could spark a rally in consumer-focused stocks. To this end we have started to establish some modest positions in companies such as HMV.

Fund Details