Fund Objective

The investment objective of Neptune Balanced Fund is to generate a positive total return.

View on Past Performance

The third quarter saw continuing volatility in the UK and global markets resulting from turmoil in the world's financial system and increasing evidence of a slowing global economy. The banking sector garnered most headlines as the interbank lending markets seized up, more financial institutions failed and government rescue plans around the world were hurriedly put together to avert a global financial meltdown.In light of the uncertain macroeconomic environment, the UK portion of the Fund remained focused on defensive sectors such as healthcare and consumer staples. We maintained our focus on well funded large-cap stocks, which was beneficial during the quarter, as the FTSE 100 outperformed the rest of the market.Meanwhile, the Fund's overseas holdings remained invested in worldwide themes identified by our global sector research process. While Russia and China were affected by falling commodities prices during the quarter, our exposure in these markets was orientated towards their robust domestic consumption.

Future Expectations

The Fund benefited from a high cash allocation during the quarter. Going forward, it will enable us to take advantage of excellent opportunities created by market volatility to invest at low valuations in companies we regard as having excellent long-term prospects.We continue to focus on well run and well financed large-cap firms. We are particularly looking for cash generative companies with strong balance sheets that are not cutting their capital expenditure plans.

Fund Details