The objective of the Fund is to seek long-term capital appreciation, through investment primarily in equity securities issued in Europe, excluding the United Kingdom. The Fund aims to outperform the FTSE World Index Series Europe ex UK by 1-2% per annum over a full market cycle of three to five years.
The fund firmly outperformed its benchmark in September. Positive contributors to performance included stock selection in industrials goods & services (no exposure to Vestas) and underweight allocation to basic resources. Additionally, both stock selection and allocation weights in insurance and food beverage & tobacco were positive.Detractors from performance included stock selection in banks (Commerzbank and Unicredito), automobiles & parts (no exposure to Volkswagen), telecommunications (Telenor) and personal goods (Richemont). We sold our position in German automobile company BMW due to a weaker global demand for luxury cars and reduced our weight in German company Leoni, a company producing components for automobiles.We apply a disciplined and proven investment process to identify individual stocks that we feel are attractively valued relative to their future prospects. Typically, the companies we focus on are characterised by strong business models, financial strength, and management teams of demonstrable competence.
