Brunsdon Financial aims to offer clients a long-term, consistent and robust investment approach that gives peace of mind and security for the future. Originally launched in 2011, the TM Brunsdon Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC), sponsored by Brunsdon Asset Management Ltd and hosted by Thesis Asset Management Limited who are the Authorised Corporate Director (ACD), offer clients two sub-fund investment options, dependent on their attitude to investment risk, capacity for loss and the financial goals they wish to achieve.
Both funds are actively managed by fund managers, Brooks Macdonald Asset Management Limited (BMAM), a specialist in the relative returns arena. They are able to make immediate, tactical changes to the funds within the OEIC to reflect changing market conditions and they are regularly rebalanced to reflect the asset allocation for each risk category. The aim is to deliver above benchmark returns through strategic and tactical asset allocation. Investments are spread across a range of asset classes and further diversified by the selection of a number of funds within each strategy. Both sub-funds can be blended together to provide a range of risk-rated, blended strategies.
To say that 2020 has so far been a rollercoaster year would be an understatement – not least for the world of investments. We have seen unprecedented turmoil in the stock markets and many clients have contacted us with worries about how their pension or investments will be affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The role of investors has always revolved around risk and we know that even before Coronavirus arrived there were significant concerns, for example around the US and China trade war and the potential impact of Brexit.
Now that we are in the second half of the year, uncertainty continues. Fear remains about a possible second spike of infections, mass global unemployment is predicted, there’s a US election on the horizon, the trade war between China and the USA is ongoing and important negotiations with our European partners are coming to a climax – to name but a few.
You may have heard experts talking about U-shaped, V-shaped, W-shaped and even Nike-tick-shaped recovery. Much is pinned upon the development of a successful vaccine – but this could take many more months. In the meantime, national and international economies will continue to struggle both with the outfall from the pandemic and the additional factors mentioned above.
So how will these factors affect investments? We asked Brooks Macdonald for their view on what to expect in the months ahead. Here’s what they said:
“Overall, in such a volatile market there is a need to remain diversified. Hence, the main changes to the portfolio over the last quarter were to reposition our UK and US exposure to more of a balance between value- and growth-bias approaches. It’s the same at the cautious end of the investment risk scale. Diversification is critical and we will be trying to balance the portfolio by adding in some risk assets as we feel the sentiment is improving.”
With regard to the specific TM Brunsdon OEIC funds in the quarter up until the end of July, Brooks Macdonald commented as follows:
TM Brunsdon Adventurous Growth Fund
“The main changes to the portfolio over the period were to reposition our UK and US exposure to more of a balance between value- and growth-bias approaches. To achieve this, we added Lindsell Train UK to our UK assets and Dodge & Cox US to our North America exposure. We believe that this should provide the portfolio with a more rounded overall exposure that should benefit in movement from either investment style.”
TM Brunsdon Cautious Growth Fund
“We made some tactical changes to the portfolio over the period. The main change made was to reduce exposure to very defensive short dated gilts in favour of investment grade credit, as investor sentiment improved. We feel that short dated gilts were effective at providing protection in difficult markets, but we can now move to a slightly more aggressive stance. We also opted to move our domestic large cap positions to a more balanced focus by adding in Lindsell Train UK to provide exposure to non-cyclical positions.”
For further information about the TM Brunsdon OEIC and / or your investments and how they are being actively managed, please get in touch with your Brunsdon Financial adviser.
The views above are those expressed by Brooks Macdonald and are based on their current understanding of the markets August 2020. The TM Brunsdon OEIC may not be suitable for very low or very high risk investors. Investments can fall as well as rise, irrespective of the level of risk chosen, and the value of an investment and any income generated from it cannot be guaranteed and can fall as well as rise as a result of market volatility. You may not get back the amount you originally invested.
Thesis Unit Trust Management Limited are the Authorised Corporate Director of the TM Brunsdon OEIC, Registered in England No. 03508646. Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Exchange Building, St. John’s Street, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1UP.
Brooks Macdonald is a trading name of Brooks Macdonald Group plc used by various companies in the Brooks Macdonald Group of companies. Brooks Macdonald Asset Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial conduct Authority. Registered in England No. 3417519. Registered Office: 21 Lombard Street, London, EC3V 9AH.
More information about Brooks Macdonald Group can be found at www.brooksmacdonald.com
