MultiManager Growth Fund

The investment objective of the fund is to achieve capital growth from investment,

primarily, in a global spread of collective investment schemes, including open-ended

investment companies and unit trusts as well as investment trusts.

as at 31 January 2010

Key points

  • A multi-asset fund holding equities, bonds and cash with the additional option of investing in private equity, structured products and property
  • Award-winning performance, winning Lipper and Moneywise “Best in Sector”, Global Growth Awards 2005
  • A multi-manager fund adopting a high conviction ap­proach with a high performance objective
  • Investment management responsibility for the fund has been with John Husselbee of North Investment Partners since July 2004
  • Sector: IMA Global Growth

Current views

Concerns over the sustainability of higher asset valuations, reached after a long rally in equities, seem to have come to a head in January. This sentiment pushed equities markets down over the month. In the Eurozone, worries heightened that the Greek government might default without support from its European neighbours. Apprehension around liquidity surfaced with earlier-than-expected tightening by China and around the risk of compulsory deleveraging with the announcement of new regulations for the banking sector in the United States.

The FTSE 100 dropped 5.7%* over the course of the month, as it seems the wider investment community sought to remove risk from the table. Whilst, the economic recovery remains fragile, corporate profits are improving and interest rates remain at record lows. We believe that this retracement is temporary and that going forward equities will continue to serve as the primary asset class for portfolio growth.

Accordingly, we have held the course and did not make any significant portfolio changes in January. Achieving the correct balance between risk and reward requires allocation across a wide variety of asset classes. A multi-manager approach rooted in identifying the correct blend of non-correlated diversified assets is particularly well suited to volatile markets such as these.

* Source: Bloomberg, 01.01.2010 – 29.01.2010

Holdings and asset class

First State Asia Pacific Equity
Axa Framlington UK Select Equity
Schroder Asia Pacific Equity
First State Greater China Equity
Schroder Income Maximiser Equity
Martin Currie Japan Alpha Equity
Quorum Oil and Gas Tech Alternative
G/Sach Emerging Markets Currency
Montanaro European Smaller Equity
Neptune European Opps Equity

Financial information

Nav Class Acc Bid: 329.43p Ask: 349.69p
Nav Class Inc Bid: 307.97p Ask: 326.92p
Total net assets £50.7m

Asset allocation

Equities by region (exposure as % of equities)

Performance vs IMA Global Growth sector

Five-year performance

Year- Calendar year
to-date 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
Fund -2.53% 27.56% -37.14% 13.18% 6.88% 38.93%
MSCI World Index -3.37% 16.45% -17.39% 7.72% 5.83% 23.04%
IMA Global Growth sector -3.86% 22.81% -24.28% 8.81% 7.43% 24.63%
IMA Global Growth sector ranking 21/196 39/189 172/186 42/167 87/157 6/147
Quartile 1 1 4 1 3 1

Fund facts

ISIN Class Acc GB0003485066
ISIN Class Inc GB0003484986
Bloomberg tickers
Class Acc QUIINVA LN
Class Inc QUIINVI LN
Distribution Semi annual
30 April & 31 October
Dealing/valuation frequency Daily
Accounting year-end 31 August
Settlement T+4
EU Savings Directive In scope
Currency GBP
Annual charge Class A 1.50%
Minimum initial Class A £1,000
Initial charge 5.00%
ISA wrapper Yes
ISA transfer Yes
Savings plan Yes
Sector IMA Global Growth
Depositary
BNY Mellon Trust & Depositary (UK) Limited
Registrar
Capita Financial Administrators