Fiona Gillespie, manager of the £8.9m Aviva Aberdeen Multi-Asset S1 Life Fund, has been keen to get ahead of the game following last month’s publication of the government’s blueprint for spending on energy, transport, communications and water projects in the next 20 years.
Available through the Aviva platform and managed by Aberdeen Asset Management, the fund is well positioned to capitalise on the chancellor’s plans to spend £375bn as part of the national infrastructure plan, unveiled in December.
Some of the projects in line for an injection of state funds include the redevelopment of Gatwick Project’s railway station, which will receive a further £50m in funding, a nuclear power station in north Wales, and a £1bn extension of the Tube network in Battersea, south London.
The fund’s top 10 holdings includes three in infrastructure: the John Laing Infrastructure Fund, 3i Infrastructure and HICL Infrastructure Company at 1.8 per cent, 1.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.
Other sectors favoured by the fund include financials with an allocation of 24.4 per cent, consumer goods at 9.5 per cent and oil and gas at 9.4 per cent.
The fund, managed by Ms Gillespie since 2003, has delivered three-year returns of 16 per cent, just shy of the 17 per cent comparable return seen in the Investment Management Association’s mixed investment 40-85 per cent share sector.
Adviser view
James Robson, financial adviser for London-based Plutus Wealth Management, said: “The UK is behind the curve on infrastructure spending. It’s quite embarrassing when compared with a country such as China. The problem is that I cannot recall an infrastructure project that came in on time and on budget. There are many variables involved, not least the political risk that a new government could scrap projects like the High Speed 2 rail link. This whole area requires major due diligence.”
