Artemis launches Global Energy portfolio for Dodd

Artemis is set to add a global energy fund to its product range on 11 April.

The Artemis Global Energy fund will be run by John Dodd, manager of the £339m UK Smaller Companies and co-manager of the £176m Alpha Trust. He has specialised in the energy sector throughout his career.

The fund will be a concentrated 30-stock portfolio investing in listed companies in the oil and gas, energy transmission and generation, and renewables sectors.
It will be benchmarked against the MSCI All Countries Energy index, increasing across a universe of 2,000 companies.

The manager will also consider investing in utilities.

The portfolio will contain around 30 holdings. Individual stock weightings will be kept under 5%, and geographical and sector exposure will be driven by stock selection rather than benchmark index considerations.

Dodd said the launch comes as supply and demand dynamics for energy become increasingly favourable.

“People may say the oil price is at a high level, perhaps we have missed the boat. But in fact the timing for the launch of this fund is excellent.”

“There has been a secular change in the demand for energy. It is becoming increasingly insensitive to pricing. The supply of product is limited, it cannot be stepped up quickly and it is subject to uncertainty – the issues in Egypt are just one example.”

Nor does Dodd see the demand for energy slackening as world demographics increase. Energy firms will have good control over pricing of product, which should follow through to decent dividends for shareholders, he believes.

Initially the fund will be biased towards traditional energy generation because renewables tend to be constrained by legislation.

“When access to renewables improves we will consider them, but there are better opportunities elsewhere at the moment,” he said.

The model portfolio has 17% in North America, 3% in South America, 63% in Europe and Russia, 10% in the Far East and 7% Australia.

The Ucits III fund will offer retail and institutional sterling classes.