Guinness Global Equity Income managers: Launching fund after Global Financial Crisis has paid off

Fund celebrates tenth anniversary

Launching the Guinness Global Equity Income fund a decade ago as a direct response to the Global Financial Crisis unwittingly prepared its portfolio to weather the mass dividend cuts seen in the throes of the coronavirus crisis, according to its managers Matthew Page and Ian Mortimer.

Speaking to Investment Week on the ten-year anniversary year of the £1.3bn fund, the managers said their decision to focus on dividend growth rather than high dividends, and to implement strict criteria in terms of balance sheet strength and high returns on capital, has meant the portfolio only saw a dividend reduction of 60 basis points in 2020 while the MSCI World index's average dividend yield slipped by 13%. Guinness AM launches UK-domiciled global equity income fund "2020 was really the first and ultimate test of this approach for the fund," Page said. "We came through the year w...