Gary Potter (L) and Rob Burdett
“2007 ended with difficult conditions for equity and bond markets, so we were pleased to be holding the Blackrock Absolute Alpha fund and the Thames River High Income and Global Bond funds, all of which bucked trends to deliver positive returns. European equities lost money but IVI and Cazenove delivered positive returns. These performances were offset by deteriorating conditions for small cap, which hit the Old Mutual Select Smaller Companies fund, where we have allocated a small weighting. For 2008, we retain our mix of funds and expect the portfolio to offer defensive qualities with flexibility for growth.
AMOUNT (E) FUND 15,000 Blackrock Absolute Alpha (UCITS III narrow long-short equity; absolute return)
10,000 Findlay Park US Smaller Companies (quality value-driven small and mid cap; US equity)
10,000 Invesco Sterling Bond (flex sterling fixed income; sterling fixed)
10,000 Thames River Global Bond EUR (total return global short duration; global sovereign fixed)
10,000 Thames River High Income EUR (active top-down/bottom-up hedged; global credit)
8,000 Coupland Cardiff Japan (flexible absolute return-driven; Japan equity)
6,000 Cazenove European (business cycle relative value; euro ex-UK equity)
6,000 IVI European (intrinsic value-driven cash-flow focus; Pan-Euro equity)
6,000 JO Hambros Capital Management European Select Values (intrinsic value/special situations; euro ex-UK equity)
6,000 Nevsky Global Emerging Markets Fund (directional long-only equity; GEM equity)
5,000 Rensburg UK Managers’ Focus (focus fund pooling four managers’ best ideas; UK equity)
4,000 Old Mutual Dublin UK Select Smaller Cos (capacity limited UK small-cap top-down/bottom-up; UK equity)
4,000 Veritas Asian Fund (real return Asian equity; Asia-Pacific equity)
