Fund commentary

Market Review
It was a tumultuous, but ultimately prosperous, quarter for European equities. The debt crisis remained centre stage, with European Union leaders announcing a new pact aimed at saving the euro. Markets remained underwhelmed. But relief soon followed after the European Central Bank announced measures to prop up the region’s banks.

Fund Performance
The Fund strongly outperformed the index over the latest quarter, largely due to holdings in a number of off-benchmark assets including Barry Callebaut, Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, Arkema, Aggreko and Johnson Matthey. The key negative contributions came from Lenzing and Tullett Prebon.

Fund Positioning
Due to our bottom-up investment process, we have an overweight stance in industrials. This, though, is a play on individual stocks, rather than the sector as a whole. The portfolio also has a bigger precence in the consumer goods space than the benchmark. In contrast, we are underweight financials.


Kathleen Dewandeleer &
Catie Wearmouth
31 December 2011


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