M&G Global Dividend
This fund provides an opportunity to diversify income streams by investing globally in companies that provide stable and rising dividends. Stuart has a pragmatic process to create a concentrated portfolio of 40-50 companies, with a range of characteristics.
Our Opinion
Fund Manager
Fund Manager
Stuart Rhodes joined M&G in 2004 as a global equity analyst after graduating from Bath University with a degree in business administration. He has managed the M&G Global Dividend strategy since its launch in July 2008. In April 2015, he became deputy manager of the M&G North American Dividend strategy and in January 2019, deputy manager of the M&G Global Themes strategy. Stuart is a CFA charterholder.
Fund Performance
Risk
Quote from the Fund Manager
Companies that consistently grow their dividends, wherever they are in the world, have generally provided excellent returns over the longer term.
Stuart Rhodes
Lead Manager
Investment process
Although Stuart is conscious of his responsibility to deliver a reasonable level of income to his investors, M&G Global Dividend is not constrained by a target income yield, but rather invests in a diversified group of companies with the aim of delivering a rising yield, and a good total return, in the future. To do this, Stuart splits the sources of his dividends into three categories – quality, disciplined companies with reliable growth; cyclical companies with a strong asset base; and those experiencing rapid growth from either a product or geographic area.
Risk
Stuart will typically construct a concentrated portfolio of between 40-50 stocks which does increase the stock-specific risk of the portfolio. However, Stuart’s process of looking for three distinct categories means these stocks have different risk drivers, which means the fund is designed to cope with different market conditions. M&G also has vast resources for Stuart to refer to, to monitor and assess risk being taken by the fund.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
M&G has clear and defined categories for the ESG focuses of their fund range. Their explicit ESG range includes impact, sustainable and ‘plus’ features. The remainder have different levels of integration, with a focus on investment stewardship. There are also some company-wide exclusions for all funds, such as cluster munitions.
Beyond this, Stuart takes a constructive approach to incorporating ESG. Rather than using the criteria to simply exclude stocks, he uses in-house modelling to identify issues, incorporate this in the overall analysis of a stock, and will engage with companies on identified issues. Stuart also has a strong track record of engagement. He has voted on policies related to ESG concerns, as well as using his voice in the media to put pressure on management teams to change. He has also sold companies because of ESG failures. To this end, he embraces the active management label, though not to the extent of an activist.
His approach does mean that stocks some investors may find unpalatable aren’t precluded from the investment universe. However, issues are factored into the analysis, and will need to be deemed immaterial to the company’s future, or resolvable through collaboration, before any investment.