We have added Royal London Global Equity Select to the service as a Recommended fund.

Fund snapshot

A relatively concentrated, stock-picking global equity fund where the investment team emphasises business fundamentals and the analysis of corporate lifecycles.  Within its sector, the fund features in our 'Larger-Cap, Blend' category.

Fund description – key points

• This Recommended fund is managed by an experienced team.  Peter Rutter, Will Kenney and James Clarke have been investing together for over 20 years.
• The team believes that business fundamentals drive stock prices over the long-term and that different fundamentals matter at different stages of a company’s lifecycle.  However, they also believe that fundamentals are often mispriced by the market in the short term, providing opportunities to invest in companies with superior wealth-creating strategies.
• Companies are classified into corporate life cycle categories, namely: accelerating; compounding; slowing and maturing; mature; and finally, late cycle turnaround.  Through the different stages of the process, the managers assess an array of factors, including each company’s financials, management quality, competitive position, ESG risks and finally, valuation.
• The approach is marked out by the team’s efforts to optimise the investment process on an ongoing basis.  It is designed to capture the fluidity of real-world business operations, with the process catering for the changes that occur as part of a company’s natural lifecycle.

Characteristics and utility

• The portfolio is concentrated, and the team pays little heed to the benchmark.  In their minds, business risk is the key risk factor, not benchmark risk.
• Style-wise, the fund is a blended vehicle.  In addition, the aggregate market cap of the fund is large.  However, the team casts its net widely, with stocks from across the market cap spectrum in scope.  As a result, the portfolio has high active share characteristics.  Of note is that the allocation to US companies tends to be high.
• With no overt style bias, the portfolio is designed to hold its own in different market cycles.  That said, with quality and valuation important considerations, relative performance is likely to be challenged at times of valuation extremities within the market, and also when there is a ‘dash-for-trash’, and low-quality companies lead the market up.
• The fund is suitable for investors seeking a global equity fund with high active share.  With its blended style, it would work well in conjunction with value and/or growth funds, according to investor preference.

To view our full factsheet, please visit the fund page.