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GF Special Situations Fund

Single Price £22.133 as of 12/12/2024
Fund launch date 08/11/2012
Fund size £62,213,298.28
Number of holdings 54

The Fund

The Ireland-domiciled Fund has been managed since launch in November 2012 by Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh*, who were joined by Victoria Stevens and Matt Tonge in 2023. The Fund aims to deliver capital growth over the long term (5 years or more) by applying the Economic Advantage process to investing in UK equities. The process seeks to identify companies with a durable competitive advantage. All smaller companies in the Fund must have a minimum 3% equity ownership by senior management.

You are able to redeem your investment from the Fund at any time and there is no exit fee for doing so.

*Julian Fosh is on a leave of absence. The Economic Advantage funds continue to be managed by the other members of the team in Julian’s absence.

Read latest fund update
Past performance does not predict future returns. You may get back less than you originally invested. Reference to specific securities is not intended as a recommendation to purchase or sell any investment.
Key Information
Manager Inception Date of Fund
08/11/2012
Managed by Current Team for
12 years
Class Launch Date
08/11/2012
ISIN code
IE00B76P4R28
Comparator Benchmark 1
FTSE All Share

Awards and ratings

Morningstar Fund Rating: 5 Morningstar Rating: 5

Meet the team

Anthony Cross joined Liontrust from Schroders in 1997 and launched the UK Smaller Companies Fund a year later. Anthony, who has managed the UK Smaller Companies and Special Situations funds since launch, was joined by Julian Fosh in 2008. Julian had previously managed funds at Scottish Amicable Investment Managers, Britannic Investment Managers, Scottish Friendly Assurance Society and Saracen Fund Managers. Victoria Stevens and Matt Tonge joined the team in 2015, with the UK Micro Cap fund launching a year later. Victoria was previously Deputy Head of Corporate Broking at FinnCap, while Matt had spent nine years on the Liontrust dealing desk, latterly winning an industry award for his work in mid and small cap stocks.

Meet the tea

Our Investment Process

The process seeks to identify companies that possess intangible assets which produce barriers to competition and provide a durable competitive advantage that allows the companies to defy industry competition and sustain a higher than average level of profitability for longer than expected. 
In the fund managers’ experience, the hardest characteristics for competitors to replicate are three classes of intangible asset: intellectual property, strong distribution channels and significant recurring business.
Other less powerful but nonetheless important intangible strengths include franchises and licenses; good customer databases and relationships; effective procedures and formats; strong brands and company culture. 
These intangible assets produce barriers to competition, protect margins and are capable, in the opinion of the fund managers, of reaping a financial advantage in the form of cash flow returns in excess of the cost of capital. A company that consistently generates excess cash flow returns will benefit from compounding as it reinvests this excess return into the business.

The Fund has hallmarks of a ‘quality’ style of investing – companies generating high, consistent returns with strong solvency or balance sheets. Quality companies will often outperform in difficult economic conditions. There is a tilt away from companies characterised as ‘value’ – typically companies whose shares appear cheap when assessed on measures of tangible asset value. Value companies often perform well when interest rates rise.

Past performance does not predict future returns. You may get back less than you originally invested. Reference to specific securities is not intended as a recommendation to purchase or sell any investment.

Performance

Performance since manager inception date (%)

Discrete performance (%)

As at previous quarter 12 months ending: Sep 24 Sep 23 Sep 22 Sep 21 Sep 20
Liontrust GF Special Situations 10.4 7.0 -17.5 23.9 -4.4
FTSE All Share 13.4 13.8 -4.0 27.9 -16.6

Cumulative performance (%)

As at previous day end 1 month 3 months 6 months YTD 1 year 3 years 5 years 10 years Since Inception
Liontrust GF Special Situations 3.1 1.3 -0.9 4.6 9.8 -2.5 14.1 94.5 121.3
FTSE All Share 3.7 1.5 3.0 11.2 14.7 22.3 33.8 92.7 132.3

Source: FE fundinfo as at 12/12/2024. Performance figures are shown in GBP. Total return performance figures are calculated net of costs and charges, on a bid price to bid price basis (mid to mid for OEICs) with net income (dividends) reinvested. Where applicable the quartile rank is for the primary share class within the sector. If your investment is made in a currency other than that used in the past performance calculation the return may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.

Current positioning

Top 10 Holdings (%)

REED ELSEVIER
3.60
COMPASS GROUP PLC
3.59
UNILEVER PLC
3.50
ASTRAZENECA PLC
3.36
SHELL PLC
3.34
TP ICAP GROUP PLC
3.16
BP
3.09
GLOBALDATA PLC
3.05
SAGE GROUP
3.02
WEIR GROUP PLC (THE)
2.66

Sector Breakdown (%)

Industrials
26.46
Consumer Discretionary
17.96
Financials
13.29
Technology
10.66
Health Care
10.44
Consumer Staples
6.77
Energy
6.44
Real Estate
3.19
Telecommunications
2.64
Cash & Cash Equivalents
2.10

Geographic Breakdown (%)

UK
97.89
Cash & Cash Equivalents
2.10

Capitalisation (%)

Key features of the Fund

The investment objective of the Fund is to provide long-term capital growth by investing in mainly UK equities using the Economic Advantage investment process. The Fund invests at least 80% in companies traded on the UK and Irish stock exchanges. The Fund is not restricted in choice of investment in terms of company size or sector. The Fund has both Hedged and Unhedged share classes available. The Hedged share classes use forward foreign exchange contracts to protect returns in the base currency of the Fund.

5 years or more.
4 (Please refer to the Fund PRIIP KID for further detail on how this is calculated)

Active
The Fund is considered to be actively managed in reference to the FTSE All Share Index (the “Benchmark”) by virtue of the fact that it uses the Benchmark for performance comparison purposes. The Benchmark is not used to define the portfolio composition of the Fund and the Fund may be wholly invested in securities which are not constituents of the benchmark.
Additional Information
Minimum initial investment
£1,000
Minimum additional investment
£1,000
Ex-dividend date
1 January
Distribution date
Sedol code
B76P4R2
Charges
Initial charge
-
Ongoing Charges Figure
1.92%
Included within the OCF is the Annual Management Charge
1.75%

For more information on the OCF, see our costs and charges page.

Fund Manager Insights

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How to invest in Liontrust funds

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Key Risks 

Past performance does not predict future returns. You may get back less than you originally invested. The Fund may encounter liquidity constraints from time to time. The spread between the price you buy and sell shares will reflect the less liquid nature of the underlying holdings. The Fund may in-vest in companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) which is primarily for emerging or smaller companies. The rules are less demanding than those of the official List of the London Stock Exchange and therefore companies listed on AIM may carry a greater risk than a company with a full listing. The Fund will invest in smaller companies and may invest a small proportion (less than 10%) of the Fund in unlisted securities. There may be liquidity constraints in these securities from time to time, i.e. in certain circumstances, the fund may not be able to sell a position for full value or at all in the short term. This may affect performance and could cause the fund to defer or suspend redemptions of its shares. Outside of normal conditions, the Fund may hold higher levels of cash which may be deposited with several credit counterparties (e.g. international banks). A credit risk arises should one or more of these counterparties be unable to return the deposited cash. Counterparty Risk: any derivative contract, including FX hedging, may be at risk if the coun-terparty fails. ESG Risk: In reference to any component (where applicable) of a fund's investment process that uses external ESG data, there may be limitations to the availability, completeness or accuracy of ESG information from third-party providers, or inconsistencies in the consideration of ESG factors across different third party data providers, given the evolving nature of ESG. There is no guarantee that an absolute return will be generated over a three year time period or within another time period.

 

Disclaimer

This is a marketing communication. Before making an investment, you should read the relevant Prospectus and the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) and/or PRIIP/KID, which provide full product details including investment charges and risks. It should not be construed as advice for investment in any product or security mentioned, an offer to buy or sell units/shares of Funds mentioned, or a solicitation to purchase securities in any company or investment product. The decision to invest in a fund should take into account all the characteristics and objectives of the fund (inclusive of sustainability features) as described in the prospectus. Further information can be found here: https://www.liontrust.eu/sfdr. Examples of stocks are provided for general information only to demonstrate our investment philosophy. The investment being promoted is for units in a fund, not directly in the underlying assets. This information and analysis is believed to be accurate at the time of publication, but is subject to change without notice. Whilst care has been taken in compiling the content, no representation or warranty is given, whether express or implied, by Liontrust as to its accuracy or completeness, including for external sources (which may have been used) which have not been verified.

Fund literature
GF Special Situations Fund
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