AXA Framlington Managed Balanced - keeping it simple
Dominic Rowles | Tue 22 October 2019
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- The managers aim to capture most of the gains of the stock market, but dampen the impact of a market fall
- 75% of the fund is invested in shares, with the rest in bonds and cash
- The fund beat its peers by 3.1% over the past year
Our view
Investing can be a complicated business, but Jamie Hooper and Nick Hayes like to keep things simple. They don’t try to predict how the market will react to the latest political or economic news. So while others make changes based on what’s happening with Brexit, or President Trump, they ignore the headlines and stick to stock picking.
Jamie Hooper's managed the UK portion of the AXA Framlington Managed Balanced Fund since November 2015 and assumed overall management of the fund in March 2017. He's supported by co-manager Nick Hayes, who's managed the fund's fixed interest portfolio since November 2015. The global equity investments, covering the US, Europe, Japan and the emerging markets, are managed by AXA Framlington’s regional equity specialists.
Hooper's an experienced manager with a good track record, backed by a strong and well-resourced team. We think this fund has the potential to do well over the long term and is a reasonable way to get broad exposure to global stock and bond markets. However we currently prefer to invest in other funds in the IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector so this one doesn’t feature on the Wealth 50.
How is the fund invested?
Around 75% of the fund is invested in shares with the balance in government bonds and cash. Investments in shares should boost performance over time, while the bonds and cash are there with the aim to reduce the ups and downs of the fund’s performance. Some of the shares are in emerging markets, which are higher risk than more developed markets. The managers use derivatives to reduce the impact of foreign currency movements. The use of derivatives increases risk.
Recent investments include TP ICAP, a broker for specialist financial assets such as commodities and energy. The company's investing into fast-growing areas such as its data and analytics division which could boost growth in the long run. The company could also benefit if there’s stock market volatility as this encourages more trading.
Within the bond portfolio, the managers recently added to government bonds issued by Belgium, Germany and the US.
In contrast, they took profits from investments in financial business London Stock Exchange and pest controller Rentokil following a period of strong performance.
How's the fund performed?
The fund did well over the past year, beating its peer group by 3.1%*, although past performance is not a guide to the future. This was partly down to the managers' focus on high quality companies with dependable cash flows. The fund also benefited from some company-specific success stories including Dexcom, a company that helps diabetics monitor their blood glucose levels, and HR software specialist Ultimate Software Group.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing though. An investment in Just Group performed poorly when it scrapped its dividend and reported a full-year loss. The manager later added to his investment at a lower share price and it's grown strongly since then.
| Annual percentage growth | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14 -
Sep 15 |
Sep 15 -
Sep 16 |
Sep 16 -
Sep 17 |
Sep 17 -
Sep 18 |
Sep 18 -
Sep 19 |
|
| AXA Framlington Managed Balanced | 0.5% | 17.2% | 9.2% | 6.5% | 7.2% |
| IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares | 0.3% | 15.7% | 9.4% | 5.3% | 4.1% |
Past performance is not a guide to the future. Source: Lipper IM* to 30/09/2019
Please remember all investments can fall as well as rise in value so you could get back less than you invest.