TROJAN GLOBAL EQUITY FUND: Co-managers actually do their homework for long-term good points

Investment fund Trojan Global Equity has a simple mission: to generate stellar capital returns for its investors by taking long-term stakes in some of the world’s strongest companies.

It does this by investing in just a smattering of businesses (28 at the moment), most of which are familiar names to investors.

The likes of Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft in the United States – all members of the ‘magnificent seven’ fraternity – are included.

These sit alongside a clutch of UK and European big brands. Among them are London Stock Exchange Group, Dutch drinks giant Heineken and Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. There are no holdings in Asia.

It is an investment strategy that doesn’t require constant portfolio trading. The key to its success is in identifying quality companies and then sticking with them through thick and thin, albeit shaving or adding to individual holdings when appropriate. Unlike many other funds, portfolio changes are as rare as hen’s teeth.

It works rather well, judging by the long-term returns it generates for investors. Over the past five and ten years, the £592 million fund has delivered respective gains of 82 and 195 per cent.

To put these numbers into perspective, the average returns of its international equity peer group are 83 and 119 per cent.

The fund’s philosophy is best articulated by co-manager Gabrielle Boyle, who last week was in the US on an intelligence gathering exercise: meeting representatives from companies the fund is invested in, looking at potential investment opportunities, as well as seeing investors (the fund’s catchment area is international).

Boyle explains: ‘Our starting point is to grow our investors’ capital over time. We try to achieve this by identifying businesses that generate – and will continue to generate – great amounts of cash year in, year out.

‘We do our homework on them, invest when the price is right and then own them with conviction.

‘At the end of the day, we want to own strong businesses which have resilient balance sheets and are underpinned by growth forces.’ It’s a modus operandi which means Boyle and her fellow co-manager George Viney do not get phased when periods of stock market volatility prevail – as has happened recently in the US.

‘We have confidence in what we hold in the fund,’ says Boyle. ‘When the market and economic backdrop is difficult, we’re not deflected in our belief that the companies we hold will prevail – and continue to grow their cash flow.’ In the past month, the fund’s price has slipped 7 per cent. The most significant portfolio change in recent times, says Boyle, was early last year when a stake in US medical tech company Becton Dickinson was sold with the proceeds invested in Spanish holiday tech group Amadeus.

Holdings in Alphabet, Fiserv (an American tech company specialising in the financial services sector), US semiconductor giant Intel and Microsoft have all been a feature of the fund for at least the past ten years.

Trojan Global Equity is one of 14 funds and trusts run by investment house Troy Asset Management. The business manages assets in excess of £11billion of which global equity is one of four investment strategies it specialises in. The others are multi-asset, UK equity income and global equity income.

The fund’s annual charges total 0.86 per cent.

In marketing literature, it is referred to as Trojan Global Equity (Ireland) in recognition of where it is domiciled. This allows the fund to court an international – as well as a UK – clientele.