Liontrust Assessment of Value Report - Flipbook - Page 80
Liontrust Global Technology Fund
The Fund is managed by Robin Geffen and aims to generate
capital growth over the long term (5 years or more). The Fund
invests at least 80% of the portfolio in shares of technology and
telecommunications companies across the world. These are
companies which, at the time of purchase, are within the GICS
(Global Industry Classification Standard) Information Technology
and Communication Services sectors.
Performance
Overall value
assessment
We have evaluated the
Fund against all seven
criteria in our assessment
of the value it provides to
investors. While the Fund
has received an Amber for
comparable market rates,
we have concluded that
the Fund has performed
in line with expectations
for the remaining criteria,
delivering overall value to
investors including through
the investment performance.
Go back to the Summary
of the Assessment of
Value table
We have assessed the investment performance of the Fund against both its
stated investment objective, as well as against the benchmarks that are set out
in its prospectus. We considered whether the Fund has performed how we and
investors would expect it to, given the market conditions it has been operating
under, and its investment philosophy, strategy and process.
We have concluded that the Fund has met clients’ expectations, providing
strong capital growth and significantly outperforming the sector, however, we
note that the fund has underperformed the benchmark.
The Liontrust Global Technology Fund returned 235.0% over five years to 31
August 2021, versus the MSCI World/Information Technology Index and
IA Technology & Telecommunications sector (both comparator benchmarks)
respective returns of 239.8% and 196.8%.*
The Fund invests in high quality growth stocks designed to future proof an
investor’s portfolio focusing on the five technology themes of digital payments,
ecommerce, next gen software tools, cloud/digital infrastructure and immersive
entertainment. The portfolio is driven by three distinctive silos of Titans, Enablers
& Adopters that ensure exposure to these five key themes and lead to a portfolio
that is diversified across technology-related industries.
The managers look at technological disruption, industry structure and corporate
pricing power to identify the long-term strategic winners within the stock universe.
Due to this ‘bottom-up’ nature of the investment process, the Fund’s performance
is best viewed in terms of stock selection, with holdings Microsoft, Apple, Twilio,
Alphabet and Amazon among the top contributors over the period.
While the Fund has outperformed its average peer in the IA Technology &
Telecommunications sector, it has returned slightly less than its index comparator
over five years. This underperformance can mainly be attributed to a regulatory
enforced underweight to two stocks that dominate the index. Microsoft and
Apple occupy around 30% of the Index and are the two stocks that have
contributed most to the performance of the index over the period. Under UCITS
regulations, the Fund is limited to a maximum holding of 10% in any one position
and thus has historically allocated a combined 10-15% total weighting in these
two stocks. Liontrust will review this year whether the current index is the most
appropriate for this fund given this mismatch.
This document is intended to be for information purposes only. It is not
marketing material.
*Source: Financial Express, as at 31.08.21, total return, net of fees, income reinvested.
80 - Liontrust Assessment of Value Report