Aegon Ethical Equity Fund Class A Accumulation Units
HL comment
Our view on this Fund
Despite challenging conditions, this fund has outperformed this year. Audrey Ryan anticipates a worsening economic climate and is therefore avoiding the consumer areas where there is a huge risk to earnings. She is adding to shares with evidence of earnings resilience and a strong balance sheet such as the healthcare sector. Other than that, the fund has benefited from exposure to the oil services, software and electricity companies.
12-11-2008
Information from the fund manager
Please note: The information in this box has been provided by, and is issued by, the fund manager and not Hargreaves Lansdown.
HL group comment: Aegon
Our view on this Fund Management Group as a whole
Aegon Asset Management in the UK is a subsidiary of the Aegon NV group. The headquarters for the UK division are in Edinburgh, although there is close contact with their offices in the Netherlands and the US. Until January 2001, Aegon Asset Management was better known as Scottish Equitable. Although the two companies joined together in 1994, the decision to re-brand the Asset Management arm of the two companies took place in 2001. They manage more than £40 billion of assets in the UK and are well known for their fixed income range of investments. They also have a growing reputation in UK equities and a distinguished record in ethical investing.
13-09-2007
HL sector comment: UK All Companies
Our view on this sector
The effects of the credit crunch have finally filtered into the real economy, despite this (and because of the high oil price for most of the year) BP recently posted record profits and a large dividend increase. Elsewhere the FTSE has been suffering huge volatility as banks and latterly mining companies have taken large tumbles. Recent Government intervention in the banking sector should hopefully unfreeze the plumbing in the financial world and provide the wider economy the chance to pull out of a recession.
20-11-2008