Polar Capital Global Financials edges further ahead – in its interim results, covering the six months ended 31 May 2019, Polar Capital Global Financials Trust reports that it delivered a return of 2.0% in NAV terms ahead of a 1.4% return on its benchmark, MSCI World Financials plus Real Estate. The trust has now outperformed the benchmark since launch and remains well ahead of competing funds (as represented by the Lipper Financial sector) and the UK market.
The first interim dividend was upped by 6.7% to 2.4p.
Extract from the managers’ report
“...positive stock selection was partially offset by an overweight position in banks and an underweight position in real estate investment trusts (REITs), the latter which performed very well over the period. Our holdings in emerging market banks were a positive contributor as were our fixed-income holdings.
Mastercard was the biggest contributor to performance, followed by holdings in AJ Bell, the UK investment platform, which was purchased on IPO, and Arch Capital, the US speciality insurer. Conversely the biggest drag on performance was a holding in Swedbank, one of Sweden’s largest banks, and some of our US regional bank holdings such as East West Bancorp and SVB Financial Group.”
We recently published a note on this trust – Don’t fear a slowing economy – the results statement has the managers discussing a quote from Warren Buffet, which will feature in our next macroeconomic roundup – “in a CNBC interview when talking about his holdings in US banks he stated: “They’re very good investments at sensible prices, based on my thinking. And they’re cheaper than other businesses that are also good businesses by some margin.” We would agree. The sector continues to return significant capital to shareholders reflecting their very strong balance sheets and we remain constructive on the outlook despite it remaining out of favour.”
PCFT : Polar Capital Global Financials edges further ahead