The Company’s investment objective is to seek to achieve long-term capital growth with some potential for income.


Investment Manager’s Commentary
Your Fund returned +3.5% during the month compared to +0.3% for the IA Global (TR) sector.

This level of outperformance was driven both by good stock level contributions, but also some intra-day volatility at the end of the month (captured in the mismatch between the Fund’s daily pricing at 10am and the Index’s end-of-day cut off) as stock markets reacted to the arrival of corporate results. Even though companies’ results announcement are carefully stage-managed events, we pay close attention. We are always eager to understand our companies’ underlying progress, and no matter how long we study the Fund’s great companies, we never fail to learn something new and valuable about them. The accumulation of these nuggets over time shapes our conviction to invest the Fund’s capital for the long term and in a relatively concentrated way. Here are examples from the Fund’s biggest two holdings, which both reported results in the final week of the month.

Visa grew its acceptance locations +17% in 2023 as phones and other devices become payment terminals. This rapid growth helps Visa make inroads into emerging markets because it lowers the costs of accessing the company’s global network. It also helps Visa penetrate the vast payment flows that lie beyond traditional consumer-to-merchant card transactions.

We were also encouraged to learn that Alphabet surpassed $15bn in annual subscription revenues in 2023. Subscription revenues are up fivefold since 2019, driven largely by the popularity of ad-free versions of YouTube TV and YouTube Music. YouTube’s advertising revenues continue to make up the bulk of its business, but the growing scale of these recurring subscription revenues demonstrate that the financial value of YouTube increasingly goes well beyond selling ads.


Fund Details
Total Gross Assets: £111,251,258 (As at 31.01.24)
Dealing: Daily
NAV Frequency: Daily
Legal Status: Open Ended Investment Company
Investment Association Sector: Global
Dividend Payment Dates: End of February and August
Investment Manager: Troy Asset Management Limited
Authorised Corporate Director: Yealand Fund Services Limited


Fund Performance

Dec 21 – Dec 22 Dec 20 – Dec 21 Dec 19 – Dec 20 Dec 18 – Dec 19 Dec 17 – Dec 18 Dec 16 – Dec 17
Electric & General Investment Fund -17.5% 23.5% 10.5% 24.6% -1.2% 11.3%

Past performance is not a guide to the future. The value of the shares and the income from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount originally invested. Source: Yealand Fund Services Limited, NAV to NAV in sterling with net income reinvested. Returns are shown net of annual management charge, other expenses and net income reinvested. Returns do not include the effect of initial charges.


Investment Objective and Policy

The Company’s investment objective is to seek to achieve long term (at least 5 years) capital growth with some potential for income.

To achieve the investment objective, the Company’s investment policy is to invest principally (at least 80%) in a portfolio of global equities, and may also invest in other transferable securities, bonds (both corporate and government debt securities), collective investment schemes (“CIS”), warrants, money market instruments, cash, near cash and deposits. The Company may borrow and may enter into underwriting arrangements. It is the ACD’s intention that derivatives and forward currency transactions will only be used for the purposes of efficient portfolio management, including hedging, as defined by the Regulations.

The Company is actively managed and has, with the exception of the above noted minimum, no limit to which it can be invested in each sector or asset type, nor is there any particular geographic focus. The Portfolio Manager has full flexibility to adjust the proportion of the property of the Company depending on their view of market conditions and the assets which it believes are most likely to achieve the Company’s investment objective. From time to time the liquidity of the Company may be increased substantially if judged to be in the interests of investors.

The Company may invest in CIS which have different investment strategies or restrictions than the Company, including the ability to invest in derivatives for investment purposes and to gain exposure to assets which are not expressly listed above. Investment in CIS will usually be limited to those which invest primarily in the assets listed above and without exception, CIS will only be held in so far as the rules permit the Company to gain exposure to the assets held by those CIS.

A Glossary of Definitions which provides definitions to some of the technical language used on this website is available from www.yealand.com/policies.


Comparator Benchmark

To gauge the relative performance of the Fund, Shareholders may compare the Fund’s performance against the Investment Association’s Global Sector. This is not a performance target nor constrains the way in which the Fund is managed. For further information on the Sector and its intended use, please refer to the Fund’s Prospectus.