Savers hoping for better interest rates on their cash this year have so far been disappointed with the Bank of England base rate remaining at 0.5%. We expect rates will stay low for the rest of 2010 and 2011, so investors willing to take some risk might turn to other assets to provide higher income from their capital. I believe UK equity income funds could provide the answer for those willing to accept the volatility. However, the sector endured a difficult 2009, underperforming the wider market by nearly 7%. Furthermore, whilst dividends from the UK market were forecast to grow by a healthy 8-10% this year, BP’s dividend suspension now means a fall in payouts of approximately 2% is pencilled in.
Having come through this tough period Karen Robertson, manager of the Standard Life UK Equity High Income Fund, is confident of good returns. Presently her fund yields a healthy 4%, even taking into account the lack of payout from BP, a significant holding in the fund. She believes 2011 will be much better, predicting growth in dividends across the UK market of 17% assuming BP’s is reinstated.
According to Karen Robertson, research of individual companies reveals plenty of reasons for optimism with many firms reporting better than expected earnings. She believes cost-cutting has helped companies defend their margins and as sales pick up company profits should continue to rise strongly. If this is the case, not only should dividends be maintained or increased, but share prices should rise as investors appreciate the opportunity to receive a potentially high and rising income. Karen Robertson also points to the fact that many companies are financially stable with reduced levels of debt, and cash positions higher than they have been for a decade. Therefore they should be well-placed to weather difficult economic conditions. Among the areas she particularly highlights are house builders, retailers and banks where she feels the market has been overly pessimistic and so the shares are undervalued.
Karen Robertson feels that current market sentiment is dominated by concerns about government finances rather than the real-life prospects of individual companies. She believes a difficult economic background accompanied by austerity measures is already factored into share prices. In her view September’s company reporting season should provide the reassurance of strong earnings and reason for investors to focus on company-specific factors rather than worries about the economic environment. As far as BP is concerned, Karen Robertson believes it would be a mistake to sell and has maintained her exposure believing the outcome will eventually be less severe than many fear.
Standard Life UK Equity High Income has a flexible approach of combining more defensive, high yielding stocks such as Britvic and GlaxoSmithKline with more economically sensitive stocks expected to provide growth but little or no income, at least in the short term. This results in some unusual stock positions for an equity income fund such as significant exposure to mining companies as well as non-dividend payers like Lloyds and EasyJet. The disadvantage of this comes when markets are falling as the fund tends to be more volatile than the sector average. However, in my view it makes the fund a good solution for income seekers who also want exposure to the wider market to enhance long-term growth potential.
Key Features of the Standard Life UK Equity High Income Fund
