MAB Quarterly Review Q1 2026 - Cautious - Flipbook - Page 9
been more attracted to higher growth potential in
other market segments (such as AI related business
or defence companies) and in other cases due
to a fear that with the rapid emergence of AI and
its increasing application in many industries, some
previously robust and durable business models
that had grown steadily for multiple decades
(especially software related businesses) may come
under competitive pressure for the 昀椀rst time.
Once again, in many regional equity markets this
sharp style reversion has coincided with some
more value-oriented managers returning to the
fore once more.
When the market’s prevailing preference for a
particular investment style changes, sadly no one
rings a bell to let us know. Decades of experience
teach us that there are many different styles of
investing that, if implemented diligently and with
discipline, can work well and outperform over long
periods. However, over shorter cycles, investment
styles can come quite violently in and out of favour.
This is why by maintaining a broad range of actively
managed investment styles in your Fund, with
these being executed by experienced and adept
fund managers that our team has researched in
great detail, we aim to reduce reliance on any one
outcome and build portfolios that are more robust
and able to deliver on our objectives even as market
conditions continually evolve.
Diversi昀椀ers
Alongside equities, your Fund holds a range of
strategies designed to provide a highly differentiated
and diversifying return pro昀椀le compared to
global stock markets. These include Fixed Income
(also called “bonds”), Absolute Return strategies
(designed to deliver positive returns over time
largely irrespective of market direction), and Real
Assets, which are strategies that have embedded
within them some form of in昀氀ation sensitivity (i.e.
they can perform well when there are unexpected
bouts of in昀氀ation). In the most recent quarterly
period, where we have observed a sharp and
unexpected rise in the oil price and renewed fears
over a rise in in昀氀ation, these Real Asset strategies,
such as commodities, trend following and global
listed infrastructure assets have come to the fore.
These diversifying strategies are generally
ever-present in your Fund as they often prove
most valuable when least expected. These assets
are not designed to beat equities during strong
markets. Instead, they are there to reduce risk,
smooth returns, and protect your portfolio when
equity markets struggle. At the start of the year,
many commentators thought in昀氀ation pressures
were behind us and that interest rates should come
down globally throughout 2026. Few could have
predicted that an escalation of tensions in the
Middle East would change the investment backdrop
so dramatically and so rapidly.
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