In this ‘fund in the spotlight’ article, Bethan James considers an often overlooked specialist fund which is ‘a bit different’.
AXA Framlington Health.
The AXA Framlington Health fund is a specialist fund that we currently hold in our Level two and Level five benchmark mainstream portfolios.
The aim of this fund is to provide long-term capital growth. It invests in shares of listed healthcare companies including producers of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology firms, medical device and instrument manufacturers, distributors of healthcare products, care providers and managers and other healthcare services companies. The fund invests in companies of any size which can be based anywhere in the world; albeit the holdings tend to be biased toward the US, as this is where the majority of healthcare related companies are based.
The top 5 holdings in this fund are –
The fund has grown by around +354.55% since its launch in April 2012 according to AXA Investment Managers fact sheet. Over the past 12 months it has enjoyed growth of around +9.35% which has certainly helped the portfolios that it sits within.
We included this fund within some of our client portfolios because of its historical volatility control. We like funds that deliver sustained and steady results for our clients wherever possible. We also really like funds that correlate ‘negatively’ to others (do different things) and (to date) the AXA Health fund fits that criteria perfectly.
The fund has grown in size since we first begun using it back in 2012. It now holds assets of around £609.29M according to AXA Health Managers factsheet. However, by modern standards, this is not a massive fund and I like the fact that it can still be fairly ‘nimble’ in its investment decisions.
The fund managers are Linden Thomson and Peter Hughes and they select shares based upon analysis of a company’s financial status, quality of its management, expected profitability and prospects for growth.
I personally like the fact that this fund does something to help our society, by investing in the companies that are genuinely making a difference in people’s lives. It hasn’t been the world’s fastest growing fund – but it does something different and really contributes to our clients’ investment journey.
Please remember that past performance is not a guide to future performance. This article is not a recommendation to purchase the AXA Health fund and is aimed at our clients who already hold the fund as further information.
As always, we are here for you 100% if you have any concerns or questions at all.
My best wishes
Beth
