Searching for global growth

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

 

We talk to leading financial advisers about which funds should be in your investment portfolio. This week, global growth funds

M&G Global Leaders

• Size: £762m
• Five-year record: 64.5%
• Minimum investment: £500 lump sum/£100 a month

This fund has been among the top performers in the global growth sector in recent years. The manager, Aled Smith, looks for companies that are making improvements.

He aims to buy shares in these companies before everyone else spots they are improving so he can benefit from the expected rise in the share prices.

His first objective is to beat the performance of his peers, and he has no constraints on where he can invest or what he can invest in.

The fund currently holds around 70 stocks. Its larger holdings include Samsung, Sony, Toyota and Coca-Cola.

More than a quarter of the fund is invested in the U.S., which is much lower than the U.S. stock market represents globally, with Japan accounting for the second largest area of investment at around 18%. They are followed by Germany at 9%, Korea 6% and Australia 5%.

The industrials sector - engineering, construction and aerospace - is Mr Smith's favourite, accounting for about one-third of the fund.

Brian Dennehy of Dennehy Weller & Co says: 'This is a superb fund with a good track record. It highlights the rehabilitation of M&G in the past five years. Aled Smith is given a huge amount of freedom to decide where to invest. The world is his oyster.'

Justin Modray of Bestinvest says: 'Aled Smith has proved that he has more insight than most, comfortably beating many of his peers since he took over in September 2002. I doubt the going will always be this good; nonetheless, it's a very good long-term bet.'

Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown says: 'Aled is a much under-estimated fund manager. He puts in an immense amount of work, which is good news for investors. M&G are really up-and-coming and this is a key fund for them.'

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