Gemma Godfrey, head of investment strategy at Brooks Macdonald, said: "These funds focus on good quality companies with strong balance sheets paying an attractive level of dividends.
"The Global Brands fund looks for companies with strong franchises and pricing power for protected market share and the ability to pass on increases in supply costs to the customers. In times of slow economic growth and persistent inflation, this is a very desirable attribute."
Proactively positioning portfolios has been key to protecting client capital, Godfrey continued, which is why direct European exposure was reduced by Brooks Macdonald’s asset allocation committee as early as the start of Q3 last year.
Portfolio positioning
The team has continued to reduce its exposure to the region as Europe’s southern members showed severe signs of stress, she added.
At the fund level, Brooks Macdonald’s portfolios have holdings in European funds run by Neptune, Henderson and Schroders, all of which have been maintaining a zero weighting to Greece and substantial underweights to countries like Portugal and Spain relative to benchmark.
Godfrey said the opportunity was taken at the end of the first quarter to lock-in profits for lower risk portfolios and re-allocate equity exposure.
"The committee viewed the substantial rally in share prices, in the face of continued structural problems within the eurozone, as a sign that the risk of a downward correction had increased in the short term. Our correction was of course well-founded and the move to redeploy capital across portfolios to alternatives and property for more attractive risk/return potential and hedge against inflation was supported," she concluded.
