Fund commentary

Market Review
Fears over the state of Spain’s finances and political upheaval in France and the Netherlands played on investors’ minds this month. Risk assets were mostly shunned, with equity indices tumbling. Corporate results were mixed, while economic data pointed to recession in Europe.

Fund Performance
The Fund strongly outperformed the sector average in April. Our overweight holdings in real estate companies Bureau Veritas and TAG Immobilien, and Swedish Match and Andritz providing the key positive impacts on performance. The main detractors included underweight holdings in pharmaceutical giants Roche and Bayer.

Fund Positioning
While the political and economic landscape remains uncertain, we expect equity markets to be volatile over the next few months. Nonetheless, equities represent fair value and should deliver solid long-term returns. We are overweight in consumer goods and media, and underweight in banks and utilities.