
Fund manager: Stuart Rhodes
This strategy follows an unconstrained approach in global equities with the aim of outperforming the MSCI ACWI Net Return Index over the long term. The strategy also has an income objective of providing a rising income stream and a yield premium.
The team seeks to invest in companies with potential for long-term dividend growth. This approach is based on the fundamental belief that companies generating rising dividends, bought at sensible valuations, will deliver excellent total returns over time through the combination of income growth and capital growth. Dividends and share prices go hand in hand.
The strategy is designed to benefit from the following:
- The tailwind of dividend investing.
- A bottom-up approach focused on fundamental analysis and valuation.
- A disciplined process which selects stocks from three distinct categories of dividend growth: ‘quality’ (defensives), ‘assets’ (cyclicals) and ‘rapid growth’ (growth).
The process provides flexibility and allows the fund manager to invest outside the defensive stocks most commonly associated with dividend strategies. The outcome is a balanced portfolio which is designed to cope with a variety of market conditions. The strategy will usually hold around 50 stocks backed by conviction and a long-term time horizon of three to five years. Investors seeking income can receive distributions paid quarterly.