Gary Potter and Rob Burdett

“The strength of the Euro had a big impact on returns in December, meaning that although overall fund selections did well within their peer groups only two funds generated positive returns - Thames River Global Bond which benefited from sharply falling global interest rates and a continued flight to quality, and IVI European which bucked the trend for European funds. Going into 2009 we are positioned for a year where micro factors increase in importance now that the macro conditions are widely known. At points during the year recovery will be anticipated but some of these rallies will undoubtedly prove to be false.”