Trustnet Magazine 90 December 2022 | Page 40

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Lazard Emerging Markets Equity

This fund isn ’ t aimed specifically at income investors , but pays a yield of 5.4 %

The UK currently offers the highest yield of any major developed market , at 4.1 %. Yet the emerging markets sector has a similar starting yield and offers faster dividend growth . Anyone tempted by emerging markets as a source of income may wish to consider Lazard Emerging Markets Equity , according to Alena Kosava , head of investment research at AJ Bell . This isn ’ t technically an income fund , but its yield of 5.4 % is higher than that paid by many funds with that specific focus . “ The manager seeks out companies exhibiting above-average and stable levels of profitability , while trading at attractive valuations ,” said Kosava .
“ The approach is often described as providing exposure to quality companies at a meaningful discount . “ Its bottom-up , fundamentalbased approach with a disciplined risk-control framework has been delivering well for clients amid the recovery in value stocks .” The fund is down 3.5 % this year , compared with losses of 7.8 % from the MSCI Emerging Markets index and 10.9 % from its IA Global Emerging Markets sector . While it has underperformed both measures since launch in 2018 , the analysts at Square Mile said investors should pay more attention to the longer-term record of manager James Donald and his team . “ His consistent outperformance
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