Pictet prunes portfolio

Changes to Pictet Funds' $101m (£51m) Telecoms vehicle, creating a Digital Communications fund, have seen two-thirds of the portfolio culled.

Advertising

Manager Bruno Lippens has also acquired a new co-manager, internet and media specialist Sylvie Sejournet.

Telecoms now accounts for 40 per cent of the portfolio, with the remainder split equally between content, digital services, e-commerce and interactive devices.

Europe now makes up 37 per cent, down from 50 per cent, while North America makes up a third, an increase of 13 percentage points.

Mr Lippens said this was a function of more internet companies being based in the US, while the reduction in European companies was down to the number of telecoms firms based in the region.

At 52, the number of stocks in the portfolio is broadly the same. The benchmark has been switched from MSCI Telecoms to MSCI World.

Mr Lippens explained: "We made the call that digital communications was a long-term theme that should start to outperform the wider market – hence the broader benchmark.

"Some names we included are not found in the current form of sectoral thinking," he added. "Companies may be classified as healthcare or financial, but they use the digital communications theme to sell products, so we feel they fit."

Examples include educational websites Blackbird and Capella Education, which are purely online.

Mr Lippens said: "E-commerce is totally different from traditional retailers, although in the past they have been compared very much. We think the difference is going to materialise more - they have fundamentally different business models, which mean a different return profile.

"We think they will keep gaining share compared with traditional firms."

The changes to the fund, which have taken place over the last two-three weeks, had been planned for more than nine months, the manager added.

FTAdviser BLOGS RSS

Latest Post  

A new way of training

Although we here at Young Adviser have said before that the industry desperately needs 10,... read more

SIGN UP TO NEWS ALERTS




Is the time right for equity release?

Norwich Union is celebrating 10 years of offering equity release (Find out more).

Meanwhile, with house prices plummeting, should clients be signing up to equity release quickly to make the most of the equity in their home?

Click here to read our feature article


FTAdviser  Jobs  RSS