Fund Manager News

Russell Investments has a long history of highlighting the role of environment, social and governance factors in adding value to an investment practice.1 In this post, we share three proof points of the value-add associated with ESG awareness and integration, and analyze the importance of considering ESG risks both in the security selection process and the…

As one of the defining challenges of this generation, climate change is not just an environmental concern, but also an economic one. Already, it’s changing how businesses operate, governments regulate and individuals consume. It’s no surprise, then, that certain climate factors will ultimately influence which investments turn out to be successful—and which do not. Unfortunately,…

Investors in the Elevation Capital Global Shares Fund own a share of Visa Inc. [V], a multinational payment facilitator who has issued over 3.2 billion cards to date. The Fund added Visa to our portfolio during the recent market sell-off. Visa one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalisation and has been playing a…

Investor Update - August 17th  Dear Fellow Investor, Covid Lockdown 2.0 Update After just over 100-days without any community transmission of Covid-19 in New Zealand, last Tuesday four new cases were detected. That evening the Government quickly announced that an initial 3-day lockdown period would be implemented at noon on Wednesday. This was followed last Friday…

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the commercial real estate (CRE) market. Social distancing accelerated the secular decline of brick-and-mortar retail and reduced foot traffic for lodging and indoor dining properties. Work-from-home introduced uncertainties for office space, disrupting rent payments and threatening the validity of business models and long-term survival. Will the feared…

July was another positive month for markets. A GOLDEN RUN July was another positive month for markets. Key themes have been the weakness of the US dollar which has fallen about 10% since the market lows and broken the trend of US dollar strength we have seen since 2018. The US dollar weakness has caused…

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Better-than-expected economic data and company earnings have supported risk sentiment over the past month. Continued progress towards a COVID-19 vaccine, alongside ongoing stimulus, has also added to the positive mood, outweighing concern about ongoing mobility restrictions and second waves of COVID-19 infection. The New Zealand economy continues to benefit from ongoing control of COVID-19, low…

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX50 Gross Index posted its fourth straight positive monthly gain with a +2.4% return. This performance pushed the market into positive territory for the 2020 year (+2.05% year to date). The strongest positive contributor came from a continued rebound in the Turners (TRA, +10.4%) share price. They delivered a March 2020 year result that…

This month, we celebrate five years since we opened our Australasian Growth 2 Fund, back in August 2015. Top stock picks pay off STRONG RETURNS ACROSS ALL FUNDS IN JULY This month, we celebrate five years since we opened our Australasian Growth 2 Fund, back in August 2015. I’d like to personally acknowledge Chris Bainbridge…

Engagement update At the beginning of the year, there was no lack of observers and opinion makers coining the 2020s as the ‘ESG decade’. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted priorities and focus, there is little doubt that ESG and the broader sustainability trend will continue to unfold for years to come. Or as the…

Some of New Zealand’s non-bank mortgage lenders have provided detailed data that illustrates they appear well-positioned to weather an increase in non-performing loans when COVID-related loan deferrals expire Our various probes into the big banks indicate no cause for alarm, albeit we expect loss provisioning needs to rise and small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending…