Price and Performance

For the month of August, the Company’s Total Shareholder Return and NAV Total Return were 3.4% and 3.8% respectively, while the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) returned 3.6%.

Over the month, the Company’s most significant contributor to return was Nvidia Corporation, with an absolute return of 16%. The gaming and technology giant released strong second-quarter results, which were above consensus estimates in revenue and earnings, increasing market confidence in its long-term growth potential. In contrast, Visa Inc was the primary detractor from performance over August, with an absolute return of -6%. Persistent travel restrictions meant that the credit transaction facilitator continued to see reduced cross-border transaction volumes. Despite this, earnings for Visa Inc are expected to accelerate in the coming months given the return to normality globally, and therefore the Company’s stock pickers continue to have strong conviction in Visa and believe that there are significant gains to be made.

Within the Company’s portfolio, the position in HCA healthcare, the largest US public hospital provider, was exited as it approached the estimate of fair value. This was replaced with Cigna, another healthcare stock that provides a broad range of medical cover, from pharmacy services to dentistry to over 70 million people. XPO Logistics, a US transportation company, has thrived since March 2020 as the spin-off of their global contract logistics operation (GXO Logistics) unlocked significant value. As such, both XPO and GXO positions were sold given that the valuations had reached targets.  They were replaced with a new position in NRG Energy, a US retail electricity provider.