CONTRIBUTORS
Mel Jenner
Director, Investment Trusts (Edison)
Extract from the Edison Report: Written by Mel Jenner, Director, Investment Trusts. Edison, a leading investment intelligence and advisory firm, provides comprehensive research and analysis to empower investors and businesses around the world.
Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust - Performance returning to positive historical form
Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust’s (MNP’s) relative performance is getting back on track following a tough 2022, when investors favoured value and cyclical companies rather than growth businesses. Manager Zehrid Osmani has remained disciplined, seeking high-quality, long-term growth companies, and has retained his five- to 10-year investment horizon. Over the last decade*, the trust has generated robust double-digit absolute annual NAV and share price total returns of 10.3% and 10.6% respectively. In relative terms, MNP’s rankings within the AIC Global sector are improving; its NAV total returns are now above average over the last one and five years.
Why consider MNP (Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust)?
MNP offers investors a high-conviction, relatively concentrated (30 holdings) portfolio of quality global equities. Portfolio companies are profitable, high-return businesses with strong balance sheets, pricing power and attractive structural growth opportunities. This means that the fund should be relatively well positioned in the current environment of weak GDP growth, where corporate margins are generally coming under pressure as investee businesses should have resilient earnings growth at a time of widespread consensus estimate downgrades. It is interesting to note that the fund’s largest holding, NVIDIA, has had significant estimate upgrades and its share price has nearly doubled so far this year.
Since becoming lead manager in October 2018, Osmani and his team have worked diligently to enhance MNP’s investment process. ESG/sustainability is an integral part of the process, and every holding/potential holding is evaluated, measured, and scored on more than 50 individual criteria. For each company reviewed, a proprietary research template is compiled to ensure a consistent approach and includes a rating recommendation between 1 (strong buy) and 5 (sell).
MNP is a straightforward equity fund with no unlisted businesses or derivatives. The board also employs a zero-discount policy aiming to ensure that, in normal market conditions, the trust’s shares trade close to NAV. Hence, despite above-average stock market volatility, the trust is the only fund in the AIC Global sector that is trading close to its NAV.
*Information correct as at the report's date of 7 July 2023. Please see Portfolio & Performance page for full current performance information.
This research note has been commissioned by Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust from Edison. The research note does not constitute independent research for the purpose of legal and regulatory requirements and is therefore not subject to the regulatory protections afforded to independent research. In particular, the research note is not subject to any prohibition on dealing and both Edison and Martin Currie/Franklin Templeton, and their respective staff, may have dealt in the securities discussed in the research note.
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Important information
This information is issued and approved by Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited (FTIML). It does not constitute investment advice.
The information provided should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell any particular security. It should not be assumed that any of the security transactions discussed here were or will prove to be profitable. These opinions are not intended to be a forecast of future events, research, a guarantee of future results or investment advice.
Past performance is not a guide to future returns. The return may increase or decrease as a result of fluctuations in the markets, in currency and/or in the portfolio.
Market and currency movements may cause the capital value of shares, and the income from them, to fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested.
The analysis of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors form an important part of the investment process and helps inform investment decisions. The strategy does not necessarily target particular sustainability outcomes.
The opinions contained in this document are those of the named manager(s). They may not necessarily represent the views of other Martin Currie managers, strategies or funds.
Shares in investment trusts are traded on a stock market and the share price will fluctuate in accordance with supply and demand and may not reflect the value of underlying net asset value of the shares. The majority of charges will be deducted from the capital of the company. This will constrain capital growth of the company in order to maintain the income streams.