Trustnet Magazine Issue 8 June 2015 | Page 14

IN FOCUS FUND GUINNESS GLOBAL INNOVATORS While the UK version of this fund is relatively new, it has a proven strategy in the US and is offering a preferential share class to early investors innovative development. They say that “innovation is the intelligent application of ideas” and can be found in nearly every industry and in companies at different stages of their lifecycle – it is not just limited to the disruptive names commonly associated with Silicon Valley. The managers are overweight the US, at 70.9 per cent of the portfolio, followed by the UK (6.5 per cent) and China and Korea (both 3.5 per cent). Current top holdings include Samsung, Lenovo and Qualcomm. Mortimer and Page look for stocks they would be comfortable holding for at least three to four years, but have a strict selldiscipline based on balance sheet strength and ongoing valuations and believe their high conviction approach is the key to adding value. PERFORMANCE OF FUND VS SECTOR AND INDEX OVER 5YRS 120% Off Mt Equity - International (34.72%) MSCI World (56.90%) Guinness Atkinson - Global Innovators (109.70%) 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Dec Jun 14 Dec Jun 13 Dec Jun 12 Dec Jun 11 -20% Dec MANAGERS: Ian Mortimer & Matthew Page FUND SIZE: $49m LAUNCHED: 30/10/2014 OCF: 0.74% CROWN RATING: N/A noting its current managers have only been running the fund since 2010. Over five years it has almost doubled its benchmark’s gain of 56 per cent. There is also a pertinent reason to look at the fund now – its current low charges are only available until its assets under management hit £50m and they currently stand at about £30m. Through its Z share class, the fund’s ongoing charges figure [OCF] is 0.74 per cent. High ongoing charges can hinder performance and while Guinness Global Innovators is by no means as cheap as a tracker, it is significantly cheaper than most well-known active top performers in the sector. The fund invests in an equally weighted portfolio of about 30 companies that its co-managers – Ian Mortimer and Sam Page – believe are undergoing a period of Jun 10 I nvesting in active funds with a global strategy has been shown to result in consistent underperformance of the index over the long term. Data from FE Analytics shows that only one in four IA Global funds has beaten the T