Fund Objective

The Fund aims to provide investors with long-term capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of Continental European investments. Income yield is of secondary importance and is likely to be minimal.

View on Past Performance

Over the last three months, the Fund outperformed relative to its sector average, ranking in the second quartile of its peer group.

Future Expectations

Financial market developments continue to dominate the headlines and shape our near term outlook. The combination of a stronger euro exchange rate, higher energy and food prices, credit and money market turmoil and slowing US growth weighed heavily on the euro-area economy in the third quarter. The degree of uncertainty and magnitude of the fi nancial market crisis remains extreme and is now beginning to impact the real economy.We will continue to hold underweight positions compared to the benchmark in cyclical stocks, stay defensive and focus on what we believe to be the strongest players in the banking industry. The telecoms sector stands alone as the last relatively safe sector in our opinion in terms of attractive dividend yields and defensive earnings. We remain cautious in our outlook for this year and expect any recovery to be conditional upon the stabilisation of the housing and fi nancial markets.

Fund Details