Polar Capital Technology Trust aims to maximise long-term capital growth via technology company shares from areas including information, media, communications, environmental, healthcare and renewable energy, and computing and associated industries. It has recently increased its allocation to cash to 4.5 per cent to make opportune purchases, as it expects increased volatility during the forthcoming earnings season following strong recent share price gains in the sector.
It has made net asset value (NAV) returns of 9 and 35 per cent over three and five years - against 14 and 19 per cent for sector peer RCM Technology (which has a comparable mandate), and the 15 and 39 per cent returned by its benchmark, the Dow Jones World Technology index. Over shorter periods, Polar Capital Technology has outperformed its benchmark.
The fund charges a performance fee of 15 per cent over the benchmark, while RCM Technology charges 20 per cent of the outperformance of the NAV per share.
Polar Capital Technology's managers select stocks by assessing areas including management quality, new growth markets, globalisation and major trends, and international valuation anomalies and sector volatility. While the portfolio is constructed without specific reference to an individual market, index or benchmark, no single stock can account for more than five per cent of the portfolio, and unquoted investments cannot account for more than 10 per cent.
Geographically, North America cannot account for more than 75 per cent of the portfolio, and there is a 55 per cent limit on Japan and Asia, and 40 per cent on Europe.
| POLAR CAPITAL TECHNOLOGY TRUST (PCT) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PRICE | 238.8p | TOTAL ASSETS | 384m* |
| MARKET CAP | £302m** | 1 YR TOTAL RETURN | 64.12% |
| No OF HOLDINGS | 117* | 3 YR TOTAL RETURN | -0.20% |
| SET UP DATE | 16-Dec-96 | 5 YR TOTAL RETURN | 6.72% |
| MANAGER START DATE | Ben Rogoff 01-May-06; Nick Evans 30-Dec-05 | TOTAL EXPENSE RATIO | 1.38% |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV | **-10.3% | 12 MTH YIELD | 0% |
| MANAGEMENT FEE | 1%* | GEARING (% OF NET ASSETS) | 96** |
| PERFORMANCE FEE | 15% over benchmark* | MORE DETAILS | www.polarcapital.co.uk |
Source: Morningstar, Polar Capital*,WINS ** as of 1 February.
Top ten holdings as at 31 December 2009
| Holding | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Apple | 6.0 |
| 5.4 | |
| Microsoft | 4.8 |
| Hewlett-Packard | 3.2 |
| Cisco Systems | 3.2 |
| International Business Machines | 2.9 |
| Intel | 2.8 |
| Qualcomm | 2.6 |
| Samsung Electronics | 2.5 |
| Oracle | 2.1 |
Geographic Allocation
| Country | Percentage |
|---|---|
| North America | 68.3 |
| Asia | 13.7 |
| Europe | 8.5 |
| Japan | 5.0 |
| Cash and equivalents | 4.5 |
