Year-to-date, Swiss and Global equity funds continue to deliver strong absolute and relative performances, ranking in the top quartile versus their peer groups. Despite short-lived sector/style rotations into oversold value names, the ytd performance of the MSCI AC World reached +24% at the end of October. Extending the horizon back two years, global equities delivered +12% following the correction in Q4 2018. The active management approach adopted by the team driven by fundamental analysis and stock selection based on the CFROI lifecycle, provides a diversified exposure to structural quality and growth names without the need to time the market or the style factors. Performance attributions across the franchise over the ytd period and over longer periods show that the majority of alpha was generated by strong stock selection.
Staying Engaged in Markets but actively Managing Risks
Why thematic investing?
Traditional approaches to investing are constantly challenged by leading companies which are by nature innovative and, for most of them, multisectoral. Disruptors can be found in any sector or industry, making the traditional industry classification framework less and less relevant. Disruption is blurring the lines between countries, sectors, and industries. Therefore, looking at the world through a thematic lens allows investment professionals to access the whole spectrum of opportunities. Along with climate change, evolution in consumer spending patterns and disruptive innovation, demographics is one of four trends impacting the global economy and transforming old habits. At UBP, we believe these trends will capture the key shifts affecting global businesses and society over the coming decades, and therefore offer an exciting starting point to identify long-term investment opportunities. However, these four long-term trends are affecting not just the planet, but also the financial markets and those that participate in them. That said, they are often too large and move too quickly for investors to grasp. As traditional classifications become obsolete, many portfolio managers are breaking free from the shackles of traditional, sectordriven and passive investments, and instead adopting theme-based solutions. But how can a themed approach deliver superior investment returns by viewing the future in the light of the secular demographic trends?