We run five Multi-Asset Portfolio funds for clients who prefer to let us take on the daily management of their (MAP) portfolios. Managing the funds on a daily basis allows our Research Team greater responsiveness in their investment choices and gives them the ability to make changes to the structure of the portfolios, as well as the fund choices within them.
Below are some of the changes we have made recently:
JO Hambro UK Opportunities
JO Hambro UK Opportunities has been added to three of the MAP funds; Aggressive Growth, Defensive and Growth.
This is a focused, bottom up driven, equally weighted portfolio of about 33 stocks drawn from the FTSE 350. The manager, John Wood, adopts a disciplined and conservative stock picking approach which has historically provided strong defensive qualities. Not surprisingly, this investment style lagged behind in 2009 during the “dash for trash” rally. However, we believe the manager’s investment philosophy means the fund should be well positioned to perform going forward. Whilst this fund does not specifically target a dividend yield, it is currently yielding about 3.8%.
Blackrock UK Income
Blackrock UK Income has been added to two of the MAP funds; Income and Income & Growth.
This uses a barbell approach (combining two contrasting strategies) to achieve capital growth whilst consistently producing a yield in excess of 3.5%. The addition of this fund to MAP will aid diversification of stocks within the UK Equity Income sector, which is particularly relevant considering the loss of BP as an income producer. The fund itself is also less volatile than many of its peers and is managed by Nick McLeod-Clarke, the managing director of UK Equities at BlackRock.
You can find more information on our
Multi-Asset Portfolios on our website or by calling one of our Investment Professionals on 020 7189 9999.