Maintaining Order in Complexity

The Europe Quality Fund returned 4.33% in November outperforming its index by 1.63%. The Health Care sector was the largest contributor to alpha, mostly due to stock selection. Stock selection for the Materials sector was also a significant contributor. The best performing sectors for the index over the month were Information Technology, Industrials, and Health Care; while Utilities, Communication Services, and Energy were the worst performing sectors.

At a single stock level the best performing stocks for the European Fund were Qiagen, Intl Flavors & Fragrances, and Siemens Healthineers. There were no noteworthy detractors over the period.

The Global Quality Fund returned 0.51% in November, compared to 2.79% for the benchmark. The largest detractor to alpha was the Consumer Staples sector, primarily due to stock selection. The main contributor was the Materials sector, due to Intl Flavors & Fragrances. The best performing sectors for the index over the month were Information Technology, Health Care, and Industrials; while Utilities, Real Estate, and Consumer Staples were the worst performing sectors.The best performing stock for the Global Fund was Intl Flavors & Fragrances; while Shiseido was the bottom performer.

The complexity of the world is increasing not just from an economic point of view but also from a political perspective. The Investment Adviser believes stars are aligning for a difficult period given that it has now become more likely that the globe is facing a synchronised economic slowdown. Given this macro and political backdrop, the Team will maintain their preference for defensive portfolio positioning into the end of the year.

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The views and statements contained herein are those of the Eric Sturdza Group in their capacity as Investment Advisers to the Funds as of 18/12/2019 and are based on internal research and modelling