When it comes to investing, it’s important to keep a close eye on the future and spot emerging global opportunities. CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust is carefully positioned to benefit from several developing economic themes which have the potential to change the way we all live. The key is to be able to identify sectors and companies today that show a lot of potential for future growth.
Key takeaways:
- Thematic or secular investing is an investment style which captures the upside of long-term global shifts.
- CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust is carefully exposed to several broad themes, including technology changes (known as digital disruption) and transformation (covering artificial intelligence).
- Fund manager Peter Hewitt notes investments with these secular characteristics can offer great potential for investors.
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust aims to benefit from long-term global shifts through thematic investing. This is an investment strategy which focuses on identifying significant global themes and the sectors they may benefit to take advantage of the potential growth. This type of investing is also described as ‘secular’ investing, where secular means long-term themes.
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust’s fund manager, Peter Hewitt, has decades of investment experience. He is able to expose the fund he manages to important long-term investment themes by carefully selecting trusts with secular growth characteristics. As these types of trusts are among the top performers for CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust over the most recent fiscal year, this strategy has proven success.[1]
Enduring global trends
Thematic investing begins by identifying broad economic and structural tailwinds which are not driven by shorter-term changes in the economic cycle. These themes are then translated into investment ideas by identifying sectors and companies which should stand to benefit. Emerging trends have the potential to improve the prospects of many different companies. It’s just a question of positioning a fund correctly, and ideally, investing just as the theme is developing.
When identifying potential new opportunities, fund managers need to consider whether a theme is strong, long-lasting, and relevant to many areas. Emerging themes are not one-off events, they take years to develop and penetrate society. Then, they remain consistent over time.
Our use of smartphones is a good example of a secular theme. Smartphones are now everywhere and have changed our behaviour. Early investors in the smartphone theme could have gained exposure to semiconductor companies, app developers, or firms which produced other components. Secular themes typically offer a range of investment opportunities.
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust's thematic exposure
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust is a globally diversified fund of funds, which means it’s a fund comprised of lots of other funds. Fund manager, Peter Hewitt, and his team curate a selection of the optimum funds (investment trusts) from all over the world and bring them together in the CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust.
These trusts are carefully selected according to the themes of the portfolio, one of which is secular growth characteristics. That means the team are identifying funds which offer long-term global change in an industry or sector, ultimately leading to growth. This is a long-standing strategy of CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust.
The secular themes considered important by Peter Hewitt and his team are technology, healthcare, biotechnology, and digital disruption and transformation. The growth strategy of CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust has exposure to most of these themes. It is harder for the income strategy to gain exposure as most of the trusts held according to these secular themes do not pay or a dividend, or only a low dividend.
Peter Hewitt notes the trusts held for secular reasons can be volatile. But for genuine long-term investors, it’s from trusts with these secular characteristics that multiple times the original investment can be made.[2] A common theme among the trust’s leading performers from May 2023 to May 2024 was having exposure to companies with secular growth characteristics.
Trusts with secular growth characteristics
To gain access to technology, healthcare, biotechnology, and companies involved in digital disruption and transformation, Peter Hewitt and his team have carefully selected various funds according to their specific characteristics and long-term exposures.
For biotechnology and healthcare these trusts include Worldwide Healthcare Trust and Biotech Growth Trust. For technology, they include Allianz Technology Trust and Polar Capital Technology Trust. These trusts have both delivered gains to CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust, with share prices rises of 35% (between 31 May 2023 and 31 May 2024)[3]. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is also included in the fund because of its digital and growth exposure. This trust delivered robust gains of 33% over the recent fiscal year.[3]
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) was a key factor behind the share price performance of all three trusts. Some may say AI is a fad, but most experienced investors agree that today’s advent of AI can be compared with 1995’s inception of the internet. CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust is carefully positioned for the changes AI could bring through digital disruption and transformation exposure. It’s an important secular theme for the fund.
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust accesses investing trends
Positioning CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust according to secular opportunities allows investors access to sustained growth potential. This proactive approach to selecting trusts which stand to benefit from significant global themes has proven success, as the performance over the most recent fiscal year has shown. Global development never stands still, and CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust is able to adapt exposure accordingly.
CT Global Managed Portfolio Trust 5 year discrete annual performance as at 31 October 2024 (%)
2024/23 | 2023/22 | 2022/21 | 2021/20 | 2020/19 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NAV (debt at market value) | 15.89 | -6.30 | -12.60 | 28.39 | -7.97 |
Share price | 20.40 | -6.53 | -14.15 | 29.84 | -10.02 |
Benchmark | 16.30 | 5.89 | -2.78 | 35.40 | -18.64 |
Investment risks
The value of your investments and any income from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the original amount invested. Gearing is used for investment purposes to obtain, increase or reduce exposure to an asset, index or investment. The use of gearing can enhance returns to investors in a rising market, but if the market falls the losses may be greater.
The mention of any specific shares or bonds should not be taken as a recommendation to deal.
There is no guarantee that dividends will continue to be paid.
Issued by Columbia Threadneedle Management Limited and approved for distribution 31/12/24.
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