Winter 2022: the funds gaining and losing their Elite Ratings

Following its Winter investment committee, FundCalibre has awarded ten Elite Ratings and four new Elite Radar badges. A further three funds lost their ratings in the review.

Seven newly Elite Rated funds:

VT Gravis Clean Energy Income

This fund is a portfolio of renewable energy and energy-efficiency related projects that are benefiting from the secular move to more sustainable energy demands. It looks to generate an attractive income, alongside modest capital growth, from a spread of different projects that should deliver defensive, uncorrelated performance.

Cohen & Steers Global Real Estate Securities

Cohen & Steers is an industry leading specialist in real estate securities, and this global fund is one of its flagship products. It invests in the entire global real estate investment trust (REIT) and publicly traded real estate company universe, with analysts looking at stocks from both an equity and property perspective.

Janus Henderson European Smaller Companies

This is a pure small-cap vehicle which has a ‘style agnostic’ approach to investing. This means the managers will buy growth companies at a reasonable price as well as looking at neglected areas of the market. The managers are also willing to invest in the very smallest of companies and will target firms at different stages of their life cycle.

Janus Henderson UK Responsible Income

This fund has a well-defined approach to investing responsibly, combined with a tried and tested equity income investment process. The manager has extensive experience in the equity income space. He won’t chase yield and will look for a balance of growth as well as an attractive income. The fund has a bias towards mid-caps.

Fidelity Global Technology

This fund invests in a mixture of the familiar technology mega caps but also medium and smaller companies. At least 50% of the fund’s holdings must be invested in sustainable firms. Stocks in the portfolio fall into one of three buckets: ‘growth’ (long term structural winners with disruptive technology), cyclical companies and special situations’.

ASI UK Mid Cap Equity

ASI UK Mid-Cap Equity is a high conviction strategy which invests in medium-sized companies for the long term. It invests in businesses when they are well established, but still have a long runway of growth potential. The process leans on ASI’s quant screening tool, ‘The Matrix’, and is backed up with rigorous fundamental research and regular company meetings.

BlackRock Global Mining Trust

This is a specialist trust offering exposure to mining and metals companies globally. In addition to investing in quoted securities, the trust may also invest in royalties derived from the production of metals and minerals, physical metals and unquoted securities. It also offers an attractive dividend yield to investors.

Three funds move from Radar to Rated:

VT Gravis UK Infrastructure Income

This fund invests mainly in investment trusts exposed to different types of UK infrastructure. It has an income target of 5% per annum, which is distributed quarterly, and offers exposure a less volatile and higher-yielding area of the UK economy. We have no hesitation moving this fund from Radar to Rated.

Aegon Strategic Bond

This fund is everything a strategic bond fund should be. It’s highly active and flexible and its managers can and will quickly change its positioning to adapt to the prevailing economic environment. Now that both co-managers have a three-year track record, the fund has moved from Radar to Rated.

Fidelity Asian Dividend

This fund will pay a decent yield of around 30-40% more than the wider market, but also offer the opportunity for capital and dividend growth. While the portfolio favours high quality companies, the manager will not invest in them at any price and this value-aware mindset, coupled with the yield target, gives the fund a value tilt.

Four new Radar badges:

Schroder Digital Infrastructure

Schroder Digital Infrastructure fund seeks to take advantage of the ever-increasing demand for digital infrastructure and the sustainable transition to a digital economy. It holds around 40 stocks invested around the world in mixture of emerging and developed markets. ESG factors are a critical part of the fund’s process.

IFSL Marlborough Global Innovation

This fund was formerly known as Marlborough Global Technology, but it was rebranded and taken over by Guy Feld in October 2020. It is now a concentrated portfolio of fast growing, innovative companies. It has a heavy weight to technology firms, but it will invest in innovative disruptive companies from any sector.

LF Ruffer Diversified Return

This is an absolute return vehicle which has the protection of investor capital at the heart of its process. The fund aims not to lose money on any 12-month rolling basis, with a strong emphasis on providing genuine protection in times of market stress. Asset allocation is the key driver of returns in the portfolio.

Alquity Indian Subcontinent

This is a high conviction fund focused on tapping into the strong domestic Indian equity market. It looks past the larger companies in the index and invests in firms lower down the market cap spectrum, which other investors often overlook. It is towards the top of the risk spectrum, but it has rewarded those who believe in the Indian success story.

Three funds lost their ratings:

TM home Investor – unfortunately this fund does not score highly enough on AlphaQuest to move to a Rating and must therefore lose its Radar status.

Guinness Emerging Markets Equity Income – unfortunately this fund does not score highly enough on AlphaQuest to move to a Rating and must therefore lose its Radar status.

Lazard US Equity Concentrated – unfortunately, the AlphaQuest score of this fund has deteriorated, so the fund has lost its Rating.