- The mantra behind the investment process and philosophy is to keep things simple. To build income, Holmes said the team adopts an active “go anywhere” approach which focuses on the best opportunities the market is presenting, rather than following a siloed approach which draws them into following specific equity and fixed income benchmarks.
- “Having a bottom-up focus and regular communication between the equity and fixed income teams allows us to really nail down where the most attractive opportunities are,” said Holmes. “By having a common language for income investing – namely focusing on income yields and free cash generation – also means we avoid doubling up our exposure to certain sectors.”
- Such an example is how the fund has invested in the banking sector. Holmes said in the portfolio’s early days banks represented a large allocation within the fixed income allocation, because it was a period in which equity returns in the financial space were low. “Today, however, bank equities have a more attractive return profile than within fixed income, so we have flipped that exposure.”
- This is also an example of the highly active approach, with the managers taking tactical, conviction-based allocation shifts. “If we didn’t run an active approach and instead were more benchmark led, it would create a situation where we are forced into certain sectors, regardless of whether we saw better opportunities across one asset class or the other,” said Holmes.
As of 31 Dec 2025, the fund has 205 individual holdings; 75 of these were equities and 130 were bonds.
Holdings
Asset class split: 53% equities, 45.5% fixed income and 1% cash.
Source: Artemis as at 31 December 2025.
Sharpe ratio
Strong returns on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis
Source: Artemis as at 30 Nov vs 1.0 of sector (IA Mixed Investment 20-60% shares).