Funds Research

Cash is no longer trash, but we can do better

Research: 21 August 2023

(Still) Time for a Different Approach

Research: 13 September 2022

MI Hawksmoor Distribution – 10-year Anniversary

Research: 14 April 2022

The Hawksmoor Distribution Fund celebrated its 10th anniversary on the 13th April 2022. Managed by the same team, the Fund over the past decade has met its twin objectives of delivering an attractive level of yield as well as strong capital growth, achieving top quartile performance in its IA sector since launch.

Interview with Ben Conway - by Professional Adviser

Research: 07 May 2021

Tom Ellis, editor of Professional Adviser magazine, interviews Head of Fund Management Ben Conway, who explains why the team no longer look at fixed income as a diversifier in multi asset portfolios.

The strong tailwind for active managers

Research: 13 April 2021

In this article we discuss the reasons why we believe the current investment environment for active fund managers is the best in years. With the early signs of market leadership normalizing, the conditions for active management improving, and valuations mattering again, we are excited about the potential returns of our three multi asset funds.

VIDEO: The best environment for active multi-asset investing in decades

Research: 31 March 2021

In this video presentation, we explain why Hawksmoor’s nimble size, investment trust expertise and willingness to embrace more esoteric assets results in truly multi-asset portfolios that can go beyond mainstream equity and bond markets in identifying value.

Time for a Different Approach?

Research: 13 January 2021

At the most basic level, the minimum objective of any investor is to deliver a positive return after the impact of inflation and charges over the long run. Elevated valuations in many traditional asset classes undermine the probability of achieving this goal in the future. In this article we explore how this problem has evolved and suggest that investors perhaps need to adopt a more innovative and differentiated approach to portfolio construction in order to meet their objectives going forward.

The Continuing Importance of Gold in Our Funds

Research: 12 October 2020

Since our note on gold 3 years ago, the price of the metal in dollars has risen from $1,250 per ounce to over $2,000 and is currently trading around $1,900. As we will explain in this article, we continue to believe the reasons for holding gold remain valid.

Coronavirus Impact on Distribution Fund's Income: Part 2

Research: 21 September 2020

In this new article we update you now that we know what the Fund has distributed in the two quarters since our April note, and we provide an updated projected yield to inform you what income to expect from the Fund over the next year.

Five Accelerating Trends and How We're Responding

Research: 10 July 2020

In recent months, many of the trends we identified in 2018 have experienced a rapid acceleration as a result of the extraordinary reaction to the emergence of COVID-19 from governments and central banks in particular, with global lockdowns becoming the norm. In this article we will explore five of these accelerating trends and how we are responding to the threats and taking advantage of the opportunities that are being created.

Hawksmoor Funds Performance Update: May 2020

Research: 20 May 2020

The purpose of this note is not to repeat all we have covered before but to update you on what has happened since March and what the team has been doing.  In this article, we discuss the impact of investment trusts on our Funds' performance, our exposure to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and how our dealing activity differs from the action we took in the last period of dramatic discount widening in 2011.

Coronavirus Impact on Distribution Fund's Income

Research: 20 April 2020

Due to the current coronavirus pandemic we now find ourselves in a truly unprecedented environment involving a near-complete shutdown of many large economies across the world. Many companies have recently announced either cancellations or deferral of dividend payments, some landlords are no longer receiving rent and some debt obligations are in danger of not being serviced. In this note we would like to specifically address the impact of the coronavirus on the Distribution Fund’s income.

Compelling Opportunities in Challenging Markets

Research: 09 April 2020

We are living through truly exceptional times and financial markets are no different. We believe that there were three stand out factors that contributed to the rapid widening of investment trust discounts during the quarter.

Uncertain Times, Certain Measures

Research: 19 March 2020

These are clearly extraordinary and highly uncertain times from a humanitarian, social and economic perspective. The Funds are in a strong position to take advantage of price dislocations in investment trusts, and of low valuations across financial markets with elevated cash levels.

Why Bother with Fundamentals?

Research: 21 January 2020

The turning of a New Year often inspires a little retrospection and as such this article seeks to explain some of the factors that contributed to the performance of our Funds in 2019 and why we retain conviction in our current portfolio positioning.

Good performance – understanding what it means and how it can be achieved

Research: 17 September 2019

In this article we define ‘good performance’, and how our investment process is designed to achieve it. Also, by explaining the pattern of our Funds’ past performance we seek to guide investors as to how we hope our Funds will perform in the future.

Trust

Research: 14 June 2019

Trust is perhaps the most important element in a decision to invest with an active fund manager. Together with our rigorous investment process, we hope that the disciplines we impose on ourselves give our investors in the Hawksmoor Funds the greatest chance of seeing their desired outcomes achieved.

An open and shut case

Research: 11 April 2019

The use of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in our funds, help us deliver diversified exposure to property sub-sectors that we believe offer the best risk-return profiles in the most efficient manner possible, whilst protecting investors from the cash drag and suspension risks associated with open-ended property funds.

Japan: Once bitten, twice shy?

Research: 11 March 2019

The 1980s were a booming time for Japanese assets with the stock market increasing 600% during that decade and that exuberance extended to the property market. It has gone down in folklore that the value of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo was worth more than the whole of California.

10 features behind the success of the Vanbrugh Fund

Research: 27 February 2019

Vanbrugh's managers reflect on 10 features behind the Fund's success in its first decade.

Daniel’s tour of China

Research: 30 October 2018

Daniel Lockyer made an action-packed trip to China, which included 24 meetings and presentations over 5 days with the senior management of private and public companies and state-owned enterprises.

The Roman god Janus' lessons for investors

Research: 28 September 2018

The mythical Roman god Janus was depicted with two faces, back-to-back, pointing in opposing directions; an apposite picture for the god of beginnings, transition and endings. Janus had qualities which should have made him a good investor.

10 Investment Themes...

Research: 14 September 2018

...and their implications for how we are managing portfolios and their performance. In this article we summarise the 10 important global trends that inform our investment policy and explain how our analysis of these 10 trends has influenced the management of portfolios.

Our changing Fund OCFs - a fuss over nothing?

Research: 11 July 2018

Our Authorised Corporate Director, who is ultimately responsible for calculating our Funds’ Ongoing Charge Figures (OCFs), has now definitively decided that the underlying OCFs of our Investment Company holdings should not be included in our synthetic OCF calculation, meaning our published OCFs will return to their lower levels.

Clarifying the effect of synthetic OCFs on our Funds

Research: 25 June 2018

Investors may be aware of the new Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) legislation, which came into effect at the beginning of the year, requiring all listed Investment Companies (ICs), including investment trusts and closed-ended funds, to produce a Key Information Document (KID).

The REIT type of property exposure

Research: 04 March 2018

One of the most significant developments over the past few years in the investment trust sector has been the large increase in the number and value of sector-specific Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Are you KIDding me?

Research: 02 February 2018

Under new PRIIPs legislation, from 1 January 2018, all listed investment companies (also referred to as ICs, investment trusts, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or closed-ended funds in this note) have to produce a Key Information Document (KID) in order for their shares to be made available to retail investors.

How to diversify portfolios when the traditional model is broken

Research: 09 January 2018

While this quarter’s thought piece is not intended to debate the merits of technical analysis, people who know us well will be aware that we do not use it to make investment decisions ourselves. Our conviction lies in trying to ensure that every asset in which we invest (via investment trusts and open-ended funds) is cheap at the time of purchase.

Gold - a redundant relic or essential insurance?

Research: 03 August 2017

Gold viewed as an investment divides opinion. ‘Gold bugs’, who are often die-hard pessimists, enthuse about gold as the ultimate safe-harbour in a forthcoming investment storm they believe will destroy the value of most traditional investments such as shares and bonds.