ASI Europe ex UK Income Equity I

Investment Process

The fund is run using Standard Life’s "Focus on Change" investment philosophy and largely focuses on stockpicking rather than macro conditions. It feeds off Standard Life’s analysts, who reduce a universe of over 600 stocks to around 100 buy recommendations with the high conviction Winners List of 20 stocks a prominent source of ideas. However, James has a focus on yielding stocks and to this end may invest in some stocks that are not buy rated by the analysts. He splits the portfolio into three types of company: - High Dividend (around 50% of portfolio). Companies that have a good track record of paying a healthy and growing dividend to investors where James feels that this is going to continue. - Dividend Growth (around 35%). Companies delivering rapid dividend growth, where James believes this is sustainable. - Dividend Upgrade (around 15%). Stocks where James believes dividend-paying capacity is mispriced, either because they can surprise with a larger than expected dividend or can avoid an expected dividend cut. Understanding a company’s dividend policy is key, and the team spends a fair amount of its time researching and meeting companies to judge this.