Britain's first ethical fund, F&C Stewardship Growth, was launched 25 years ago with the strapline "the investment fund which takes your conscience as its guide". In the early years it was called the "Brazil" fund because "you'd have to be nuts to invest in it". Today it has £451m under management, making it the biggest ethical fund in the UK.
However, the past 10 years have not been a comfortable ride for investors who have seen a negative return on their capital. The F&C Stewardship Growth fund returned -4.22 per cent over the 10 years to 8 June 2009, holding a third-quartile position in the IMA's UK All Companies fund sector. In the past year it is down -27.08 per cent, having suffered because its strict ethical criteria meant it could hold no exposure to defensive stocks such as tobacco.
Long-standing fund manager Ted Scott has been replaced by Catherine Stanley this month. She sees no immediate changes required to the portfolio other than scaling down the number of holdings from 85 to 70.
The number of companies in the FTSE 100 that are acceptable to the fund's strict ethical criteria is just 45. So Ms Stanley finds most opportunities in the mid and small-cap areas.
There is a minimum market-cap requirement of £150m for new purchases to ensure liquidity and scalability of the fund. There is also a minimum new position size of 0.5 per cent of the fund.
Examples of typical stocks held in the portfolio include Chloride, an international provider of secure power solutions for business continuity, and Caretech, a provider of specialist housing and support for adults with learning disabilities.
| F&C Stewardship Growth Acc | |||
| PRICE | 528.60p | SHARPE RATIO | neg |
| SIZE OF FUND | £411.18m | 1 YEAR PERFORMANCE | -26.33% |
| No OF HOLDINGS | 85 | 3 YEAR PERFORMANCE | -26.44% |
| SET UP DATE | 1 Jun 84 | 5 YEAR PERFORMANCE | -0.56% |
| MANAGER START DATE | 1 Jun 09 | TOTAL EXPENSE RATIO | 1.54% |
| TURNOVER | na | HISTORIC YIELD | 3.30% |
| VOLATILITY | 3.85 | MINIMUM INVESTMENT | £1,000 |
| TRACKING ERROR | 2.67 | MORE DETAILS | www.fandc.com |
TOP 10 HOLDINGS
| Holding | % |
| Vodafone | 6.81 |
| BG Group | 6.37 |
| Scottish & Southern | 4.62 |
| Cairn Energy | 3.72 |
| HSBC | 3.52 |
| Centrica | 2.8 |
| Pearson | 2.79 |
| National Grid | 2.57 |
| Capita Group | 2.34 |
| Marks & Spencer | 2.17 |
SECTOR BREAKDOWN
| Sector | % |
| Consumer Services | 19 |
| Financials | 18.2 |
| Industrials | 18 |
| Utilities | 13.4 |
| Oil & Gas | 10.7 |
| Telecommunications | 8.3 |
| Consumer Goods | 4.2 |
| Cash/Others | 8.2 |
