MARKET COMMENTARY

Fund performance for VECTOR in February was rather disappointing, with the fund down (3%). The two main detractors over the month were PZ Cussons and Reckitt Benckiser.

January was an unusually active month for trading within the VECTOR portfolio. Markets are better pricing the risks posed by inflation and interest rates and opportunities in the small and mid cap space are emerging. We are more confident of our ability to outperform than we have been for over a year.

It appears that the two most important questions for investors in 2024 relate to one micro question and one macro question:

So far this year, UK equity markets have been range bound, that is they have been trading within a relatively narrow band.

There will again be a day when equity and debt markets are not driven by the actions of central banks, but fifteen years after the global financial crisis we have yet to experience one (excepting the COVID crisis).

The last quarter was dominated by inflation and central banks’ response to it (higher interest rates).

April 20th 2023, marked the 7th Anniversary since the launch of the SORBUS VECTOR fund.

To the end of April 2023, the fund has returned 108.1% (an annualised return of 11.0%) with a volatility of 11.8%.

Another month, another banking crisis. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

The FTSE100, a good measure of UK equities, was essentially flat over the course of 2022 which suggests a measure of calm. History books will be unlikely to concur with that assessment of the year.

November proved to be a good month for the VECTOR fund with a gain of +8.4%.

Our longer term performance also remains very strong. According to Trustnet figures, as at 30th November our fund ranked first in performance out of 234 funds (in the IA UK All Companies sector) over 5 years and second out of 244 over 3 years.

May we take this opportunity for the benefit of any new investors in our VECTOR fund, to reiterate our investment approach and ethos.