Fundamentals – Q4 2021

Welcome to the latest Fundamentals service update.

As a reminder, the Fundamentals website is designed to help you with your investment research, and keep you up-to-date with the latest views from the AJ Bell Investments Team on the funds and ETFs that the team think have the potential to achieve their stated objectives. This bulletin is designed to highlight some of the recent updates on the site.

Changes in Fundamentals

Over the course of final quarter of 2021, there were two removals from the Fundamentals list, and one addition to it:

Rationale

Allianz Gilt Yield (removal) – given how cheaply the asset class can be acquired, we have concluded that UK gilt exposure is better accessed via low-cost passive instruments.

Liontrust Special Situations (removal) – we have concluded that given the fund has grown to over £6 billion, there is a risk that future performance could be impacted by a reduced ability to access smaller companies, while liquidity may be impacted if many investors decided to sell at a similar time.

BlackRock UK Special Situations (addition) – the fund is somewhat similar to Liontrust Special Situations as it focuses on medium and smaller companies listed on the UK stock market. However, the important difference is that BlackRock UK Special Situations is smaller, at around £600 million in size. This gives it more flexibility to invest in smaller companies without the potential to be impacted by its size.

Meeting notes

One of the advantages of the Fundamentals service is regular updates from the meetings the Investment Team have with the underlying Fund Managers. These will be updated at least once a year, and many have been added over the last few months.

Over the quarter, 22 funds have been reviewed in these meetings and had their commentary revised. Take a look at the AJ Bell reports on the website to see the latest thoughts of the Fund Managers, and our assessment too.

AJ Bell Reports

Each fund or ETF on the Fundamentals service has an AJ Bell report that is updated quarterly. This report contains key statistics on the fund or ETF such as the latest positioning, performance, ESG and risk data, as well as information such as charges. All of these reports have been created to help you with your due diligence.

Other news

We are constantly researching the investment universe to ensure that the Fundamentals list contains a wide range of high-quality managers. Keep checking back on our website to see our latest ideas and updates.

We love to get your feedback on the Fundamentals service, so if you have any thoughts you’d like to share with us, please let us know.

HEAD OVER TO FUNDAMENTALS