“The Structural Case for High Performance in High Yield Remains Intact”

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Photo courtesy

In a complex environment, the high-conviction active style, emphasis on credit selection and risk-aware approach, seeks to produce a track record of strong risk-adjusted returns for Aegon Asset Management’s High Yield Global Bond Fund.

For the fourth year in a row, the fund won the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards Europe 2023: Best Fund over 10 years for the High Yield Global Bond Fund (USD, A Inc), also adding the 5-Year award in 2023.

The manager gave an interview to Funds Society and spoke about the investment approach for the fund, the reasons for some of the investment allocation choices, and also offered his perspectives for high-yield bonds in a recessionary environment and potential upside for this particular asset class.

“Recession risk still looms on the horizon and we believe markets will remain volatile in 2023. Despite macroeconomic uncertainties, high-yield credit fundamentals appear to be in relatively good shape”, says Thomas Hanson, CFA and Head of Europe High Yield at Aegon Asset Management.

Going into 2023, most high-yield companies had healthy balance sheets, with historically low leverage and high interest coverage. “While the ratings momentum will inevitably reverse, most companies remain disciplined and have high levels of cash to help meet debt obligations”, he emphasizes.

According to Hanson, most high-yield companies could weather a downturn as “short-term maturity risk is relatively low, with few bonds maturing in 2023 and 2024, which can help mitigate default risks”.

Credit issuers have been able to prepare themselves for one of the more anticipated recessions, by implementing changes, such as cost control measures. “It is important to note that the average quality of the overall high-yield market is much higher today than it has been in years. There are fewer CCCs and below, and a higher proportion of BBs in the index. There is no doubt that downgrades and defaults will tend to increase as the cycle changes, but the higher quality nature of the market could also help limit distress and defaults compared to previous downturns”, the manager says.

As rates have shifted higher, high yield is now living up to its name. Yields above 8% on the ICE BofA Global High Yield Index look attractive, however spreads remain around long-term averages. This leaves many investors facing a conundrum as they try to evaluate the path forward for spreads and the optimal entry point for high yield bonds.

Given the macro uncertainty, it is unlikely that we see sustained spread tightening in the near term, although a relatively tight technical can exert positive tailwinds. While entry points matter, and spreads could be biased toward widening as the recession becomes more imminent, yields above 8% have historically provided above average total returns for long-term investors. Since 2008, yields above 8% have been relatively rare. These periods have historically resulted in double-digit returns over the subsequent one-, three-and five-year periods.

Hanson believes that long-term investors have reason to consider gradual increases to high yield in an effort to capitalize on attractive returns, provided they can weather some short-term volatility. “After all, it’s time in the market, not timing the market, that matters in high yield”, he adds.

“Over the long term, global high yield has generated risk-adjusted returns that are competitive against many other fixed income assets and even equities. As such, we believe the structural case for high yield remains intact“, Hanson says.

The Aegon High Yield Global Bond Fund is managed in an active style and aims to maximize total returns, including high income plus capital appreciation, while also remaining focused on generating strong risk-adjusted returns. “We manage a high-conviction portfolio of our best investment ideas”, he explains. “Our approach is bottom-up security selection. Backed by a structured top-down process, we embrace a dynamic approach to allocating to regions, ratings, and sectors”, Hanson adds.

The fund’s mandate is flexible and not bound by an index: it invests only where it finds there is value. “We believe this flexible approach helps us maximize the opportunity set and avoid unwanted constraints imposed by a benchmark as we aim to outperform our peers and global high yield indices”, he indicates.

In the current environment, with challenging economic prospects, the fund is pursuing an up-in-quality strategy. “We have been adding exposure -says Hanson- in higher-quality, BB-rated bonds with attractive yields. There will be a time to increase allocation to lower-rated high yield, however downside risks remain, and we think it is prudent to be modestly defensive in this environment”.

In terms of regions, Aegon AM is finding high-conviction ideas in US and European corporates, and it maintains its underweight in emerging markets.

Hanson is interested in some leisure companies that are benefiting from pent-up consumer demand. “While some of these businesses may be operating in more challenging sectors, we manage risk by selecting stocks that are more senior in the capital structure in an effort to preserve client capital”, he says.

The fund has a long track record. When asked what has been the biggest lesson learned over the years, Hanson states: “We continue to believe that our high-conviction, bottom-up approach has driven our successes over the years. Throughout this time, we have learned the importance of using a risk-aware process supported by in-depth bottom-up research. Maintaining investment discipline is central to our style”. He adds that, using a risk-focused mindset, “we remain focused on taking sufficient, but not excessive, investment risk as we pursue performance targets”.

Hanson embraces a dynamic approach to allocating to regions, ratings and sectors, supported by a global team of research analysts. “We take pride in our willingness to build a portfolio that we believe is different than peers, as we focus exclusively on our highest conviction ideas and are not beholden to a benchmark”, he remarks.

Insigneo Incorporates Alfredo Maldonado to Lead Its Expansion in New York City

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Photo courtesyAlfredo Maldonado, Managing Director & Market Head in New York

Insigneo is delighted to announce the appointment of Alfredo Maldonado as Managing Director and Market Head for New York and US Northeast Region.

Maldonado will be based at Insigneo’s expanding office located on Madison Avenue and 41st Street reporting to Rodolfo Castilla, Insigneo’s Head of Sales. 

With this important incorporation, Insigneo reaffirms its commitment to delivering exceptional financial services to clients across the globe. The company’s decision to hire Maldonado underscores its focus on hiring the best talent and reinforces its position as a leading player in the global wealth management sector. New York is an important hub for the firm to continue its expansion plans while providing an integrated platform for Investment Professionals and their clients globally. 

In his new role, Maldonado will oversee Insigneo’s existing business in New York, driving the company’s growth by focusing on top line revenue and assets for its existing business, while expanding its footprint in the Northeast.

“Alfredo’s appointment reflects Insigneo’s aspiration to be recognized as the best value proposition for all independent advisors focused on international clients. We are thrilled to welcome such a distinguished professional, and particularly somebody that shares our values, which is critical to all of us,” said Rodolfo Castilla, Head of Sales for Insigneo.

Maldonado brings 25 years of international wealth management experience, having worked in New York, California, and Florida, expanding his network and knowledge across these regions. The senior hire brings a deep understanding of the New York market, which will be crucial in growing Insigneo’s presence in the city.

“Insigneo’s commitment to providing a pro-business approach for financial advisors, enabling them to provide exemplary service to their clients is unmatched in the industry,” said Maldonado. 

“I am happy to welcome a leader of Alfredo’s caliber and culture to our growing Insigneo family. New York and the Northeast are very important markets for us to grow and we are excited he will lead those efforts to make us a powerhouse,” said Javier Rivero, Insigneo’s President & COO.

Advisors’ Front-Office Technology Is Here to Stay

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Driven by the need to facilitate a digital work environment, advisor use of front-office technology has evolved significantly over the past three years. New research from Cerulli, State of U.S. Wealth Management Technology 2023, finds front-office technology has made a lasting impact on both client satisfaction and advisor productivity.

Between 2019 and 2022, the greatest rates of growth in advisor adoption occurred with technologies that facilitate a digital work environment, such as e-signature, client portals, and video conferencing, driven largely by the needs imposed by the pandemic.

Advisors tell Cerulli that these technologies were critical to their ability to operate effectively during the pandemic, but that the benefits experienced go well beyond that. Thus, many patterns of technology use that emerged during the pandemic are likely to continue into the post-pandemic world.

The technologies that are most frequently cited as positively impacting the client experience include e-signature (77%), video conferencing (75%), and client portal (64%). Likewise, the technologies that are most frequently cited as positively impacting advisor productivity include video conferencing (75%), e-signature (73%), and CRM (70%).

“This data aligns with the many conversations Cerulli has had with financial advisors who share how e-signature technology has drastically reduced the time and effort required for clients to open accounts, and create linkages between accounts, for example, obviating the need for papering and re-papering of accounts,” says Michael Rose, associate director.

The same applies to virtual meetings, which were rare prior to the pandemic, and are now often a preferred meeting option for clients and advisors. “The precipitous rise in advisors’ use of these applications over the last three years underscores the importance of creative, outside-the-box thinking when it comes to the ways in which they do business altogether,” he says.

Overall, the ways in which advisors source technology varies between affiliation models. For instance, 88% of advisor practices affiliated with captive broker/dealers (B/Ds) source their suite of technology from their home offices with relatively little control over product selection. Independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) represent the other end of the spectrum, with 50% building custom technology stacks sourced entirely from third parties.

“The diverse ways in which advisor practices source their technology are testament to the varying approaches for operating a wealth management practice in the modern day,” concludes Rose.

Ostrum Asset Management Announces the Appointment of Axel Botte as Head of Markets Strategy

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Photo courtesy

Ostrum Asset Management (Ostrum AM), an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, announces the appointment of Axel Botte as Head of Markets Strategy. He was previously the global strategist in the same team.

Axel Botte will head the markets strategy team, which is composed of: Zouhoure Bousbih, Emerging countries Strategist and Aline Goupil-Raguénès, Developed Countries Strategist, both members of the team since 2018. The recruitment of a new global strategist is underway. Axel Botte reports directly to Ibrahima Kobar, CIO Fixed Income, Structuring and Research, and member of Ostrum AM’s Executive Committee.

Within Ostrum AM, the main missions of the Markets Strategy team are to establish a macroeconomic, economic and financial scenario to support the active fundamental management teams in their strategy and asset allocation recommendations, as well as to provide top-down internal research to support the managers’ convictions.

Ibrahima Kobar, CIO Fixed Income, Structuring and Research at Ostrum AM, said: “We are delighted that Axel has taken on this new role at Ostrum AM. His experience in asset management and his expertise in international markets strategy are major assets to meet the requirements of our institutional clients”.

Axel Botte started his career in 2000 at Axa IM as an economist, then became an equity strategist between 2002 and 2006. In 2007, he was appointed head of fixed income strategy in the Investment Strategy department of the management company. In 2010, Axel Botte joined Ostrum AM, as an Global Strategist, where he works closely with the fixed income teams on specific themes, such as interest rates, developed market government bonds, inflation-linked bonds and credit. 

Axel Botte holds a DEA in Industrial and Financial Strategies and Econometrics from the University of Cergy-Pontoise.

 

Fund Managers Increase Liquidity in the Most Pessimistic Investment Environment of the Year

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Investor optimism is declining as the year progresses. It is not surprising, given that the idea that economic growth will weaken as a result of the decisive actions of central banks is increasingly widespread.

This sentiment has become evident in the latest monthly survey of fund managers conducted by Bank of America (BofA). Investor sentiment deteriorated in May, reaching its lowest point of the year. The reason is precisely that there are more investors expecting an economic downturn: 65% believe this scenario is the most likely, compared to 63% the previous month.

The most immediate consequence has been an increase in the position of liquidity, which now stands at 5.6%, up from 5.5% the previous month. Liquidity has been above the 5% threshold since November 2021.

The weakening expectations for China also do not contribute to optimism. Now, 55% anticipate a strong rebound in China, down from 83% in April. This sentiment extends beyond portfolios, as the percentage of investors overweighting the Chinese stock market decreases from 30% to 24%. In fact, this represents the lowest overweight position in this asset since December 2022.

Fund managers continue to closely monitor the actions of the Federal Reserve, 61% believe that the Fed has completed the cycle of interest rate hikes, and a large majority, 43%, expects a cut in the interest rate at the January meeting next year. However, a third of the respondents still believe that there will be further interest rate hikes in the US.

As for the main negative events, the spending ceiling emerges in May as one of the biggest “tail risks”: 8% point to this event as a possible negative scenario for the markets.

A credit crunch combined with a global recession once again tops the list of investor concerns, although with slightly less intensity this month, as 33% mention this event. It is closely followed by high inflation coupled with further interest rate hikes, with 29% expressing this view.

The fear of a credit crunch and a global recession prompted an increase in portfolio exposure to fixed income: 14% overweight this asset, the highest level since March 2009. Sector rotation is also accelerating.

The positioning in growth sectors (technology and discretionary consumption) compared to financials (banking and insurance) increased by 12 percentage points in May, reaching the highest level since August of last year. The last time the survey showed such a rapid shift from financials to growth was in November 2007.

Pictet Asset Management: Slim Pickings Outside Emerging Markets

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Photo courtesy

As spring blooms in the northern hemisphere, the green shoots of economic recovery appear to be emerging. This after months of stubborn inflation and banking sector turmoil.

Unfortunately, however, there aren’t yet enough of those green shoots to convince us to shift from the cautious stance we have maintained since the end of last year. Economic prospects are still highly uncertain, particularly in the developed world thanks in large part to sticky inflation.

Moreover, corporate earnings estimates are being revised down, as we predicted. We continue to forecast flat earnings per share growth for 2023 in developed markets, which is now largely in line with consensus, but we believe expectations for the years to come are still too high. We therefore remain underweight developed market stocks and upgrade global bonds to overweight.

Our global business cycle indicators are still firmly in neutral territory; they are some way off from turning positive.

We still believe the US can avoid a recession, but its growth prospects aren’t especially bright in the medium term. GDP grew by just 1.1 per cent in the first quarter on an annualised basis – around half the pace that economists had expected.

There are some green shoots: our US lead indicator had shifted into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year, while housing activity, which tends to lead the economic cycle, has picked up from 10-year lows. But we believe that a definitive positive shift is still some way off given the lag in the transmission of tightening monetary policy, which has taken longer to work through the economy than in previous cycles. Consumption growth and non-residential investment will surely slow, while core inflation remains stubbornly high.

Our indicators for Europe are equally downbeat; we believe the region is several months behind the US in the cycle. Recent rate hikes won’t be felt in economic activity for another few months, although solid domestic demand should act as a buffer.

The picture is brighter for emerging markets. First quarter GDP data showed Chinese growth back near potential, fuelled by a rebound in private demand, especially in services. We expect excess savings – worth some RMB5 trillion – to be drawn down over the next two years, giving a significant boost to consumption.

Property markets also look healthier: construction has rebounded from September lows, floor space is increasing, and mortgage rates have fallen 150 basis points from their peak. China’s trade balance has also markedly improved, driven mainly by trade with the ASEAN economies. Our analysis shows that exports are now 63 per cent above pre-crisis levels, led by shipments of electric vehicles.

Our liquidity indicators are positive for emerging market assets but contain red flags for developed market equities. China’s central bank remains in easing mode, encouraging the flow of money and credit into the economy and thus creating supportive conditions for riskier assets.

In contrast, the rate hikes delivered by US and European central banks are now starting to weigh heavily on the cost and availability of credit, causing a marked reduction in liquidity. With more tightening likely, conditions could worsen.Private liquidity – that provided by banks and other private sector lenders – was weakening even before the March bank failures and has now deteriorated further. Net interest margin pressures, tighter lending standards and the likely introduction of more stringent regulatory measures are curbing banks’ willingness to lend (see Fig. 2). Euro zone bank lending has come to a standstill, while in the US it’s slowed to just 1.5 per cent of GDP, compared to an average of 4 per cent in both regions in 2022.

 

We remain confident in the prospects for emerging market stocks and bonds but don’t share the same enthusiasm for developed market equities.

 

Opinion written by Luca Paolini, Pictet Asset Management’s Chief Strategist

Discover Pictet Asset Management’s macro and asset allocation views.

Man Group appoints Robyn Grew as next CEO as Luke Ellis announces retirement

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Photo courtesy

Man Group announces that Luke Ellis has informed the Board of his decision to retire and that Robyn Grew will be appointed as the next CEO of Man Group.

She will take over from Luke as CEO as of 1 September 2023, at which time she will also join the Man Group Board as an executive director. While she will relocate to the UK following her appointment, she will continue to spend a substantial proportion of her time in the US, given the firm’s presence there. Ellis will continue as CEO and remain an executive director of the Company until 1 September 2023 to ensure an orderly transition and oversight of the Company’s 2023 interim results.

Grew is currently President of Man Group and a member of the Senior Executive Committee, based in the US. She has significant operational and financial services experience as well as a strong track record of demonstrating strategic vision and leadership. During her 14 years at Man Group, Robyn has managed the solutions business, overseen trading and execution as well as acted as Group COO, Head of ESG and General Counsel. Her wide-ranging responsibilities, spanning from investment divisions, risk and technology to legal, infrastructure and operations, have provided her with broad experience and a deep understanding of the business. She has been integral to the firm’s global strategic expansion and oversaw the reorganisation of Man Group’s corporate structure in 2019 to better align it with the global footprint of the business. She has also spearheaded the firm’s diversity programme, Drive.

Before joining the firm in 2009, Grew held senior positions at investment banks Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers as well as at LIFFE, the largest futures and options exchange in London – since renamed the ICE Futures Europe. These roles saw her based for periods of time in New York, London and Tokyo giving her broad, global experience.

In line with best practice and its roles and responsibilities, the Nomination Committee of the Board has continually reviewed and discussed Board and executive succession plans. This has included identifying potential internal successors for the CEO role and, with the assistance of an external executive search firm, undertaking a thorough preparatory external benchmarking exercise. Following Luke’s decision to retire, the Board was pleased to be able to implement its succession plans and immediately approve the appointment of Robyn as the Company’s next CEO.

“It is an absolute honour to be taking on the role of CEO at Man Group. During more than a decade working at the firm, it has developed into a world leading, technologically brilliant, active investment firm with a fantastically collegiate culture. I look forward to building on that to ensure the firm remains positioned at the forefront of active investing, attracting top talent and delivering for our clients and shareholders alike. Luke has been an incredible ally and mentor to me and I am excited to be able to follow in his footsteps into this new role,” Robyn Grew said.

Luke Ellis commented: “It has been a privilege to be CEO of Man Group and it is easy to want to stay on forever when you are leading such a great team of people. However, I feel that now is the right time to pass the reins to the next custodian of this firm and having worked with Robyn for well over a decade I could not be more thrilled at her appointment. Robyn is truly exceptional and I know that the firm will continue to go from strength to strength under her leadership and that of the highly talented team around her.”

“Luke has had a long and distinguished career in the City, leading several organisations before he landed at Man Group. He has been a fantastic, visionary leader, inspiring the firm to reposition itself for the future and working closely with his leadership team to oversee a period of tremendous growth. He has also played a significant part in developing a great culture that makes Man Group such a wonderful place to work. The fact that we have been able to make an appointment internally for his successor is a reflection of the highly talented team that he has developed around him. We thank him for his leadership of the firm over the past seven years and wish him the very best for his retirement,” John Cryan, Chair, Man Group, commented.

In addition, Cryan added: “I know I speak for the entire Board when I say what a pleasure it is to be able to announce Robyn Grew as the next CEO of Man Group. Robyn is a dynamic, strategic leader with deep operational and commercial expertise, who knows the firm inside-out and is the perfect fit to take the firm on the next phase of its journey”

Emerging Managers Plan to Invest in Headcount and FinTech for Faster Growth in 2023

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Alternative investments FinTech Dynamo Software  released the results of a new survey, Trends, Challenges, & Insights from Leading Emerging Managers. The findings come on the heels of two additional pieces of Dynamo-led primary research, an October 2022 survey of Limited Partners (LPs) and asset allocators and a February 2023 survey of General Partners (GPs).

Throughout March 2023, Dynamo surveyed leaders across the global Emerging Manager marketplace. Participants represented a diverse set of funds, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, corporate development, real estate, fixed income, small-cap public equity, and private credit.

“The Emerging Managers we surveyed have a clear vision for moving quickly from scrappy upstarts to industry titans,” said Dynamo Software CEO Hank Boughner. “Despite the market’s ebbs and flows, they are aggressively pursuing healthy returns and hunting for both unicorns and camels.”

The research, contextualized in the Dynamo Frontline Insight Report, uncovered several noteworthy investment, talent and technology strategies being deployed by leading Emerging Managers today.

Top Talent Priority for Growth

To be successful in a tough economic climate, Emerging Managers are prioritizing the acquisition of top talent. Survey participants named “increased internal headcount” as the top area of investment to drive fundraising efforts over the next 12 months.

Like their larger GP counterparts, Emerging Managers do not seem likely to source fee revenue for additional dollars to pay top talent. The same percentage (88%) of GPs Dynamo polled in February and Emerging Managers polled in March indicated their fee structure would remain the same over the next 12 months.

Rather, cost reduction appears to be the go-to-strategy. “Creating efficiencies and optimizing workflows,” “overall cost” and “empowering the whole team to leverage tech” topped the list of reasons Emerging Managers are implementing technology. Operationally, “removing manual data tasks and introducing automated workflows” ranked as the top priority.

FinTech Strategy

Following “increased internal headcount,” two other key areas for investment were “third-party data providers” and “technology platforms.”

“It was validating to learn that Emerging Managers see value in FinTech and data partners,” said Boughner. “It’s what drives our team to iterate continuously and rapidly, as there are new types and sources of data available each day. In close consultation with our clients, we identify and integrate that data rapidly. Perhaps as importantly, we invest in development that facilitates the smoother flow of data throughout the Emerging Manager’s tech stack, which is getting higher by the minute.”

Given the prioritization of data and FinTech, it’s no surprise that Emerging Managers indicated they will not pull back on their tech budgets. In fact, more than half (51%) expect tech budgets to increase over the next 12 months. Another 48 percent said their budgets would stay the same.

The three solutions that received the most votes for future inclusion in the Emerging Manager tech stack were “fundraising and marketing” solutions (No. 1 most popular), “deal management and CRM” (No. 2) and “investor relations” solutions.

Weighing Investors’ ESG Focus

With Deutsche Bank, Bloomberg, and PWC all similarly projecting ESG assets to exceed $100 trillion in five years, more than four out of 10 (43%) Emerging Managers surveyed by Dynamo expect investors will increase ESG and DEI reporting expectations over the next 12 months.

This may be due to the type of investor Emerging Managers are finding success with, beyond the go-to institutional investors. Over the last 12 months, a significant number of Emerging Managers raised the most capital from the private wealth segment, with 32 percent raising the most from high-net-worth individuals and 21 percent raising the most from family offices.

“Institutional investors will continue to be a core category of investment in Emerging Managers, but as more disclosure requirements come about and the barriers to obtaining data gets lower, private investors will receive more benchmarks and be empowered to ask more questions,” explained Danielle Pepin, Dynamo’s Head of Product, Portfolio Monitoring and Valuation. “Although the layers of fiduciary duty and external accountability are fewer for private wealth, progress against targets still needs to be reported, and these targets increasingly include non-financial metrics. Family offices, especially, are eager for data to demonstrate the success of their ESG- and DEI-focused investments.”

Still, investors trusting Emerging Managers with their money are exercising caution when it comes to early opportunities. Just 13 percent of those investors are willing to allocate more than 75 percent of their capital to new investment vehicles. About six in 10 investors (58%) will allocate no more than 25% of their capital to new vehicles.

The Dividend Deluge

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Pixabay CC0 Public Domain

Almost exactly three years ago, I penned an article titled ‘The Dividend Dilemma’. It was the depths of the Covid-induced market selloff; companies were cutting or suspending dividends left, right and center; and analysts were predicting big cuts to global dividends from which they would take years to recover. I anticipated a fall of around 30%.

Yet for all the cataclysmic predictions, payouts took just one year to bounce back. 2021 was a record-setting year for global dividends at $1.47 trillion, a mark that was bettered in 2022 at $1.56 trillion and is forecasted to be exceeded yet again in 2023 at an estimated $1.60 trillion (see Exhibit 1).

We have now gone from the dividend dilemma to the dividend deluge. With 2022 also setting a record for share buyback authorizations, the picture is clear – companies are returning record amounts of capital to shareholders.

 

The volatility we saw across asset classes last year served as a reminder that dividends are typically much less variable than earnings and can provide an important source of total return in challenging markets. Dividends also have a solid track record of keeping pace with inflation and while annual growth wasn’t quite the low double digit level that we saw inflation hit at its peak, there was less erosion in real terms than we saw in payouts from most other asset classes.

So where does this leave us now? Deep value areas of the market, characterized by companies with lower-quality earnings and high debt levels had their day in the sun last year. Such rallies tend to be sharp but also short-lived, which played out in the first quarter of this year as we saw momentum fade abruptly. Investors are likely questioning whether such companies can continue to be successful in a slowing growth (or recessionary) environment. In addition, with interest rates looking like they will be higher for longer, indebted companies will likely see more of their cashflow eaten up by interest payments, rather than being available to distribute to
shareholders.

In contrast to the riskier, deep-value end of the market, we believe a focus on ‘quality’ dividend paying companies, those with strong balance sheets and high returns on equity, can be a powerful factor over time. As shown in Exhibit 2, the top quintile of companies, based on quality1 within the MSCI All Country World Index, has significantly outperformed the wider market over time.

This quality approach will, we believe, be especially important if the harsher economic conditions that many expect come to fruition. Indeed, despite the uncertainty in the market right now, over two-thirds of the companies within a representative global equity income portfolio have increased their dividends in the first quarter of 2023.

These increases suggest companies are generating plentiful free cash flow, and returning it to shareholders is signaling, what we believe is, a healthy confidence in their financial situation.

A few examples of high dividend increases include:

What is striking about these examples is not only the magnitude of the increases but also the diversity of the companies involved, on both a geographical and sectoral basis, which implies broad-based strength.

All of this suggests we may be in a golden period for dividend investing. Companies are returning record amounts of capital to shareholders and are doing so while recording payout ratios that are below long-term averages, meaning these dividends should remain even in the face of slowing growth.

Dividend strategies themselves tend to come into their own in more choppy market environments, where income streams become an even more crucial part of total returns and a lower beta approach may offer some protection from volatility. This serves to highlight the excellent shape of global dividends and should provide equity income investors with significant opportunities – despite volatility, they remain well positioned in the market.

Piece of opinion by Mark Peden, Investment Manager of Aegon Asset Management.

AIS Financial Group Appoints Erik Schachter as Chief Investment Officer

  |   By  |  0 Comentarios

Photo courtesyAIS Financial Group new Chief Investment Officer, Erik Schachter

Swiss brokerage firm and third-party fund distributor AIS Financial Group has recruited a new Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Erik Schachter, to bolster its coverage of global markets.

He will report to Samir Lakkis, founding partner of the company.

Schachter brings a wealth of expertise with 10 years of experience working in Finance: Research, Equity, Trading, Derivatives and Consulting. He focused on the analysis of the international financial market to generate efficient investment portfolios. He has a profile oriented to seek opportunities through traditional and alternative financial products. He was a Portfolio Manager at a MultiFamily Office in Argentina, analyzing the international market through research and calls with fund houses to find the best investment strategy.

Geneva, Switzerland-based AIS has offices in Panama, the Bahamas and Madrid and provides brokerage, asset management and fund distribution services. AIS currently distributes more than USD 2.5 billion a year in structured products and is diversifying its business line.

The company seeks to consolidate its position and to partner with those asset managers who want to outsource their sales force and benefit from the knowledge and expertise the company has in the region.