Four new funds gain an Elite Rating

FundCalibre has awarded an Elite Rating to four new funds: Brooks MacDonald Defensive Capital, Guinness Global Equity Income, Jupiter Asian Income and Threadneedle UK Extended Alpha.

Clive Hale, director at FundCalibre, commented: “With interest rates at rock bottom and inflation now 1.8%, finding a decent, sustainable income is getting harder and harder. Two of the funds to which we have recently awarded an Elite Rating may be a potential solution to this problem.

“Jupiter Asian Income has a current yield of 3.9%* and the manager, Jason Pidcock, looks for companies with reliable dividends that can deliver both income and growth for investors. It aims to capitalise on the opportunities of today, as well as the potential of tomorrow.

“Guinness Global Equity Income has a slightly lower yield of 2.8%* but the total returns have been impressive. The managers look for a growing, rather than high, income and the portfolio typically consists of around 35 equal-weighted stocks, which means that investments are very different from the benchmark index.

“We also decided to award an Elite Rating to Brooks Macdonald Defensive Capital. It is a multi-asset fund in the targeted absolute return sector and while the types of assets that this fund holds can be a bit complicated—convertible bonds, preference shares, structured notes, bond and loan assets, and discounted assets—the goal of delivering positive total returns even when the market falls is straightforward enough.

“Last, but by no means least, is Threadneedle UK Extended Alpha. It invests primarily in large UK companies but, as the name suggests, the manager aims to extend investors’ potential returns by buying stocks he expects to do well and also looking to make money on stocks he expects to do badly (shorting).”

*Source FE Analytics, January 2017