Fund Aim
The Company's investment policy is to invest in shares issued by small and mid sized companies with a market capitalisation (at the time of investment) of between £500 million to £15 billion (although the Company expects that the average market capitalisation of the companies in which it invests to be approximately £7 billion) on a long-term, global basis.The Company’s approach is to be a long-term investor in its chosen stocks. It will not adopt short-term trading strategies. Accordingly, it will pursue its investment policy by investing in approximately 25 to 40 companies as follows:
(a) the Company can invest up to 10 per cent. in value of its Gross Assets (as at the time of investment) in shares issued by any single body;
(b) not more than 20 per cent. in value of the Gross Assets (as at the time of investment) can be in deposits held with a single body. In applying this limit all uninvested cash (except cash representing distributable income or credited to a distribution account that the Depositary holds) should be included;
(c) not more than 20 per cent. in value of the Gross Assets (as at the time of investment) can consist of shares issued by the same group. When applying the limit set out in (a) this provision would allow the Company to invest up to 10 per cent. in the shares of 2 companies which are members of the same group (as at the time of investment);
(d) the Company’s holdings in any combination of shares or deposits issued by a single body must not exceed 20 per cent. in value of its Gross Assets (as at the time of investment) overall;
(e) the Company must not acquire shares issued by a body corporate and carrying rights to vote at a general meeting of that body corporate if the Company has the power to influence significantly the conduct of business of that body corporate (or would be able to do so after the acquisition of the shares). The Company is to be taken to have power to influence significantly if it exercises or controls the exercise of 20 per cent. or more of the voting rights in that body corporate; and
(f) the Company must not acquire shares which do not carry a right to vote on any matter at a general meeting of the body corporate that issued them and represent more than 10 per cent. of these securities issued by that body corporate.
1Source: Bloomberg, starting NAV 1000. 2MSCI World SMID Index, £ Net, source: www.msci.com.
3Bloomberg/Barclays Bond Indices UK Govt 5-10yr, source: Bloomberg. 4Month £ LIBOR Interest Rate source: Bloomberg. *From 19.10.18
Portfolio Comment for July 2019
A position in Fevertree Drinks plc was initiated during the month. The company produces premium carbonated mixers including tonics, gingers and cola which it sells predominantly in the UK, Europe and the US. The position was initiated after the share price fell 47% from its peak in 2018, resulting in an attractive valuation given our estimation of the business quality and growth prospects for the company. The top 5 contributors in the month were Masimo, Sabre, Recordati Spa, Verisk Analytics and Equifax. The top 5 detractors were IPG Photonics, Domino's Pizza Group, Abcam, Cognex and Ambu.
Top 10 Holdings
- Masimo
- Equifax
- Sabre
- Verisk Analytics
- Rightmove
- Check Point
- Recordati Spa
- Ansys
- Halma
- CDK Global
The OCF (Ongoing Charges Figure) is the total expenses paid by the fund (excluding bank overdraft interest), annualised, against its average net asset value. The OCF will fluctuate as the average net assets and costs change. The OCF is updated following the publication of accounts for the periods ending 30th June and 31st December.
NB Where a position is being built for the fund the company name is not disclosed in factsheet data.
| Name | Direct | Direct | Advised | Advised | Institutional | Institutional |
| 2013 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 2012 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 2011 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 2010 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |