MAB Growth Quarterly Review Q4 2025 - Flipbook - Page 6
Equities
Our Tactical Asset Allocation positioning in equities
was positive for the quarter. We kept our overweight
to Japanese Equities, which rose +13.5%, and our
underweight to Continental European Equities,
which rose +12.3%. Moving our UK position back
to normal before the quarter began also helped,
because the UK rose only +4.7% and lagged most
other markets.
Stock markets rose strongly over the quarter,
recovering all the ground they had lost in March.
This time, at the index level, it was the more
“growth” focused companies that did best, the
opposite of what we saw at the start of the year.
These companies, often in areas like technology and
software, are valued on pro昀椀ts expected many years
into the future, so when interest rates are expected
to fall, those future pro昀椀ts are worth more today.
Encouragingly, your managers delivered strong
returns across a range of styles, because the regions
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they invest in – Emerging Markets, the US and Japan
– all rose sharply. The GSAM Japan Equity Partners
Fund (+20.0%) was a good example.
The more “value” focused managers – investing
in companies that they consider cheap relative to
pro昀椀ts - that had led at the start of the year also
delivered strong absolute returns, helped by their
exposure to those same fast-rising markets: the
Neuberger Berman US Small Cap Intrinsic Value
Fund rose +22.1%, the North of South Emerging
Market All Cap Fund +25.0% and the Amova Japan
Value Fund +16.3%. The main laggards were UK
holdings, such as the Invesco UK Opportunities Fund
which returned +4.6%, marginally behind the UK
market’s more modest +4.7% rise.
Overall, this is a good reminder that different parts of
the market do well at different times. This is exactly
why we invest across a range of regions and styles.
While not everything performs well at once, this
approach helps to smooth your returns over time.
