The Guinness Global Equity Income Fund is designed to provide investors with global exposure to dividend paying companies. The Fund is managed for income and capital growth and invests in companies that are well placed to be able to pay a sustainable dividend into the future.
We focus on profitable companies that have generated persistently high return on capital over the last decade. With these criteria as our starting point we identify many well-known blue-chip companies, but we also find a broad spectrum of smaller companies that are outside of the traditional dividend-paying regions and sectors. It is a rare achievement for a company to meet our investment criteria and we think it shows a mark of genuine quality.
We maintain a high conviction portfolio of around 35 equally-weighted stocks, with low turnover and no benchmark-driven constraints on sector and regional weightings.
| Awards & Ratings | |
|---|---|
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Refinitiv UK Lipper Fund Awards 2021 - Best Fund over 10 Years Global Equity Income |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Finalist - Investment Week Fund Manager of the Year Awards 2020 Global Income |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Rated Fund RSMR |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund BEST FUND OVER 3 YEARS Equity Sector Global Income |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Elite Rated Fund Calibre |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund International Equity Income - Gold Award Portfolio Adviser - 2018 |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund International Equity Income - Gold Award Portfolio Adviser - 2019 |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund A-Rated Fund (Germany) Scope |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund A-Rated Fund (Austria) Scope |
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Guinness Global Equity Income Fund A-Rated Fund (Switzerland) Scope |
Video
Quick links
Update | Apr '21
Webcast | Apr '21
Insight | Apr '21
Guinness Global Equity Income 10 Year Review
The managers of the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund bring you their ten-year history of the Fund. Dr Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page launched the Fund on New Year’s Eve 2010, so this is an opportune moment to take stock of how it has performed, what the Global team have got right and wrong, and how the portfolio has evolved.
Press | Mar '21 | Investment Week
Guinness Global Equity Income managers: Launching fund after Global Financial Crisis has paid off
Lauren Mason looks at why Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page’s launching of 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 COVID-19 crisis.
- Why invest in the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund?
- The case for a global equity income fund
- Fund managers
- How do we run the Fund
- How do we construct the portfolio
Why invest in the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund?
The Fund is designed to provide investors with exposure to global equities through a high conviction, low turnover portfolio of consistently profitable dividend-paying companies.
- Focus on consistent high return on capital
- Consistent high return on capital is a good indication of a company’s ability to pay healthy dividends. The Fund invests in companies that are unusually consistent in generating returns on capital above their cost of capital.
- Growth and income
- Our approach to dividend investing is to focus on companies that can sustainably grow their dividend into the future, rather than simply looking for companies with a high dividend yield.
- High conviction
- The Fund typically invests in just 35 companies, with each company having an equal weighting. This provides a good balance between the benefits of diversification while also allowing each company to add meaningfully to performance. We don’t have a long tail of small positions and by definition we can never just ‘hug’ the benchmark index.
- Fundamentally driven
- We focus on ‘bottom-up’ stock selection rather than trying to make decisions based on an expected outlook for the world economy. We like to invest in good companies that have, in the short term, fallen out of favour, but that have previously shown an ability to weather most economic environments over time.
- Low turnover
- We prefer to invest over the long term. We also recognise the increased costs of trading in and out of companies unnecessarily. Typically we will hold a company in the portfolio for between 3 and 4 years.
- Repeatable and independent
- Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page have managed the Fund since launch. They have developed an investment process that is clear, robust, transparent, and scalable. Their approach filters out much of the noise and hype that surrounds companies to focus on the true signals that drive company valuations. By performing their own company research and analysis, using their own proprietary modelling systems, the managers try to avoid some of the behavioural biases associated with being unduly influenced by market sentiment.
The case for a global equity income fund
"Dividends make a gradual but potent contribution to long-term returns."
Dividend growers have outperformed for 30 years
Efficient use of cash is paramount in creating a well-run, profitable company that will thrive. Management discipline is required to maintain dividend growth and can be a signal of a well-run company. Using the example of the US stock market, the evidence for this is clear in the returns of dividend paying and non-dividend paying companies over the last forty years. It is also informative to note that companies that cut their dividend were the worst performing group over this period –illustrating that not all dividend-paying companies are created equal.
Power of compounding
For investors, reinvesting dividends delivers a significant proportion of your total return. And in periods of low growth this can be even more striking. The 1940s and 1970s, for example, were periods defined by some combination of sluggish economic growth, rising inflation, and high unemployment. During these decades dividends accounted for over 75% of the total returns of the S&P500.
Dividends can protect against inflation
Looking again at the US as an example, dividends in the US stock market have grown at an average 6% per year since the 1940s, while inflation grew at 4%. Investing in dividend-paying companies can protect against inflation over long periods: the income received in dividend payments has grown in line or at a higher rate than inflation.
Global diversity
The array of stocks around the world paying dividends has increased significantly in the last decade. We can now invest in a basket of dividend-paying companies that gives you genuine global diversity and exposure to a healthy range of industries in your portfolio. In contrast, just six companies now account for over 40% of all dividend payments in the UK.
Fund managers
Dr Ian Mortimer, CFA
Ian joined Guinness Asset Management in 2006, and is portfolio manager on the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund and the Guinness Global Innovators Fund.
Prior to joining Guinness, Ian completed a D.Phil. in experimental physics at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and graduated in 2006. Ian graduated from University College London with a First Class Honours Master’s degree in Physics in 2003. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Matthew Page, CFA
Matthew joined Guinness Asset Management in 2005, and is portfolio manager on the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund and the Guinness Global Innovators Fund.
Prior to joining Guinness, Matthew joined Goldman Sachs on the graduate scheme in 2004 working in Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income. Matthew graduated from New College, University of Oxford, with a Master’s Degree in Physics. He is a CFA Charterholder.
How do we run the Fund?
“We don’t chase yield, we want capital and dividend growth.”
Although the Fund is designed to invest in dividend-paying companies, our starting point in selecting our investment universe is to identify companies with consistently high return on capital. Specifically we look at companies that have a return on capital of greater than 10% in each of the previous ten years.
Our analysis shows that companies with persistently high return on capital are highly likely to continue to do so in the future – meaning they will continue to create shareholder value.
| Why 10% and why ten years? | |
|---|---|
| 10% return on capital… | 10% is well above the average real cost of capital of 6%. This means companies who achieve this level are truly creating value for their shareholders. |
| …every year… | Consistency each year excludes highly cyclical companies or those with high but declining or volatile earnings. |
| …for ten years | Because business cycles tend to last less than ten years, the companies in our investible universe have shown they can weather most economic environments. |
“It's a rare achievement for a company to meet our investment criteria and we think it shows a mark of genuine quality. And this is where our portfolio starts – consistent high return on capital.”
On average, only 3% of global listed companies achieve our threshold. We then exclude those less than $1 billion in size or with a debt to equity ratio greater than 1. This gives us a pool of around 400 companies from which to build our portfolio.
What about yield?
Companies that earn a consistent high return on capital often distribute a proportion of cash they create in the form of a dividend. In the Fund, however, we focus on those companies that can sustainably grow their dividend into the future.
From this pool we then select candidates for extended research on the basis of value and sentiment. In depth proprietary modelling of a company’s cash flow, capital budgeting and potential for dividend growth is combined with a subjective analysis of its business model to identify candidates for inclusion in the final portfolio.
By selecting companies from a broad range of industries, countries, and market capitalisation we aim to create a well-diversified portfolio which can provide a reasonable dividend yield and growing income stream at an attractive valuation relative to the broad market.
Sell discipline
It is often easier to find companies to buy that look cheap than it is to identify those companies you own which should be sold. We consider sell discipline as important as selecting companies for purchase and continuously monitor the companies we hold in the Fund. The six core reasons we may sell a company are outlined below.
- The company fails to continue to meet our return on capital criteria
- The valuation becomes too rich
- The balance sheet becomes stretched
- The dividend outlook or management policy to dividends changes unfavourably
- The original investment thesis no longer holds
- Yield contribution to the portfolio is insufficient
How do we construct the portfolio
The Guinness Global Equity Income Fund is a concentrated portfolio of around 35 equally weighted stocks. This provides a number of useful attributes:
- It reduces stock-specific risk, as we will not be overweight in a small number of favourite companies.
- We will not have a long tail of small holdings in the portfolio, which can be a distraction and a potential drag on performance.
- It instills a strong sell discipline as we must typically sell a position in order to make way for a new one; and we must constantly assess the companies we own in the portfolio in comparison to the rest of the universe available to us.
- We are truly index independent. All companies held are weighted equally without regard to their weighting in the benchmark index leading the portfolio to have a high active weight.
| Fund | Global Equity Income Fund | Date (period end) | 31.08.2018 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | MSCI World Index | Fund Launch | 31.12.2010 | ||
| Sector | IA Global Equity Income | Basis | Total return, in GBP | ||
Please remember that past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise as a result of market and currency movement, and you may not get back the amount originally invested.
| Cumulative performance (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X class (1) (OCF: 1.24%) | Year-to-date | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | From launch |
| Fund | 8.34 | 11.28 | 58.15 | 75.51 | 128.68 |
| Index | 9.12 | 12.13 | 65.89 | 93.71 | 139.61 |
| Sector (2) | 3.39 | 5.78 | 45.66 | 60.16 | 97.10 |
| Annualised performance (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X class (1) (OCF: 1.24%) | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | From launch |
| Fund | 11.28 | 16.49 | 11.90 | 0.00 | 11.39 |
| Index | 12.13 | 18.36 | 14.13 | 10.81 | 12.07 |
| Sector (2) | 5.78 | 13.34 | 9.87 | 8.91 | 9.25 |
| Calendar year performance (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X class (1) (OCF: 1.24%) | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Fund | 26.34 | 10.10 | 1.99 | 26.57 | 9.33 |
| Index | 24.32 | 11.46 | 4.87 | 28.24 | 11.80 |
| Sector (2) | 20.40 | 6.69 | 1.53 | 23.21 | 10.37 |
| Discrete year performance to date (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months ending: | Aug-14 | Aug-15 | Aug-16 | Aug-17 | Aug-18 |
| X Class (OCF: 1.24%) (1) | 10.52 | 0.41 | 29.28 | 9.86 | 11.28 |
| C Class (OCF: 1.99%) | 9.70 | -0.34 | 28.31 | 9.04 | 10.44 |
| Index | 12.79 | 3.52 | 25.20 | 18.09 | 12.13 |
| Sector (2) | 10.57 | -0.56 | 20.58 | 14.14 | 5.78 |
Notes
(1) The performance numbers displayed here are calculated in GBP (Sterling). Please note: The Fund's X class was launched on 15/02/2012. The performance shown is a simulation for X class performance being based on the actual performance of the Fund's E class, which has the same annual management charge as the X class, and has existed since the Fund's launch. The Fund's E class is denominated in USD but for the purposes of this performance data its performance is calculated in GBP. Hence the Fund's E Share class is used here to illustrate the performance of a GBP-based clean-fee (RDR-compliant) share class since the Fund's launch on 31.12.10.
(2) The performance of the IA Global Equity Income sector is based on the average of the highest fee share class of each constituent fund, e.g. C class for the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund, with an annual management fee of 1.5%.
Latest Guinness Global Equity Income Report
Apr '21
Mar '21
Feb '21
Jan '21
Dec '20
Nov '20
Oct '20
Sep '20
Aug '20
Jul '20
Investment Process
Webcasts
Insights
Apr '21
Guinness Global Equity Income 10 Year Review
The managers of the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund bring you their ten-year history of the Fund. Dr Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page launched the Fund on New Year’s Eve 2010, so this is an opportune moment to take stock of how it has performed, what the Global team have got right and wrong, and how the portfolio has evolved.
Jan '21
Fund Profile – Guinness Global Equity Income
The Guinness Global Equity Income Fund has been rated by RSMR since March 2014. In this Fund Profile – designed to give advisers, paraplanners and analysts an ‘under the bonnet’ view of the fund – RSMR provide an in-depth review of one of its leading rated funds.
Apr '20
Why Dividends (Still) Matter
Back in 2012, Dr Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page wrote a paper discussing the benefits of investing in dividend-paying companies, and why these income streams are particularly favourable during periods of market distress. In light of the current market turmoil brought about by COVID-19, and the potential impact on dividend payments currently under discussion, they felt now was a good time to revisit this paper. The data sets have been updated, but the conclusions remain the same.
Apr '20
Physics Envy
Matthew Page investigates the “science” of economic modelling.
Sep '17
Some thoughts on equally-weighted portfolios
Matthew Page explores the reasons behind running a concentrated, equally-weighted portfolio.
Nov '16
Implications of the US election result Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page discuss the consequence of the US election results.
Feb '16
Five year history of the Fund
As the Fund passes its fifth anniversary, managers Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page analyse its performance so far and how their portfolio has evolved.
Mar '14
Physics envy
Matthew Page investigates the “science” of economic modelling
Dec '12
Some thoughts on equities and bonds
Ian Mortimer discusses the benefits of bonds and equities and the hunt for safety in an inflationary environment
Nov '12
To meet or not to meet
Matthew Page discusses the merits of meeting company management
Mar '12
Why dividends matter
Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page investigate the importance of dividends in the pursuit of returns
Press
Mar '21
Guinness Global Equity Income managers: Launching fund after Global Financial Crisis has paid off
Lauren Mason looks at why Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page’s launching of 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 COVID-19 crisis.
Feb '21
Global dividends, sustainability and a happy 10 year anniversary
Matthew Page and Dr Ian Mortimer, co-managers of Guinness Global Equity Income, take FundCalibre through the world of global equity income. Having just celebrated the fund’s 10 year anniversary the managers share the highs and lows of the past decade and the opportunities for the next ten giving their current views on dividends. They wrap up by discussing the potential for bubbles in the market and the increased buzz of sustainability and how that impacts the fund.
May '20
Why Guinness can be good for your portfolio
Jeff Prestridge takes a look at Guinness Global Equity Income – a fund which, despite the raft of recent dividend cuts made by companies both in the UK and overseas, holds 35 companies that have not cut their dividend.
May '20
How one income fund has managed to dodge all the dividend cuts
Tom Bailey writes on the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund: the fund that has not seen a single dividend suspension or cut among its holdings so far.
Apr '20
‘Physics envy’: How to draw the right lessons from the coronavirus
Amidst the steep falls in equity valuations catalysed by the novel coronavirus, Matthew Page – co-manager of the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund – writes for Investment Week on drawing lessons from physics when constructing a portfolio of stocks.
Mar '20
What Fund Managers Do When Stock Markets Fall
Matthew Page, CFA – elite-rated co-manager of the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund – outlines recent changes made to the portfolio, and the considerations driving this repositioning for FundCalibre.
Mar '20
Go defensive with Guinness Global Equity Income
With volatility returning to equity markets, Dave Baxter writes for Investors Chronicle on how the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund is able to provide some exposure to markets, with a vital defensive element and attractive income.
Feb '20
9 secrets of dividend investing, from a couple of stock pros who beat the market
Dr Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page share their 9 tips on how best to identify and capitalise on good income stocks.
Aug '19
The new funds added to the FE AFI Cautious portfolio
FE Trustnet takes a closer look at the ‘cautious’ funds that have been added to the FE AFI portfolios following the latest rebalance.
Feb '19
Investment Week – Don’t chase yield in the hunt for income
Matthew Page looks at how investors can find the perfect balance of yield, quality, and diversification
Feb '19
Gold Award – Guinness Global Equity Income Fund
Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page collect the gold award for the Guinness Global Equity Income Fund at last week’s Portfolio Adviser Awards.
Feb '19
Investment professional name their favourite boutique asset management firms
Investment Week asked a number of investment professionals to name their favourite – Darius McDermott looks at the Equity Income approach from Guinness
Jan '19
FUND FOCUS: Why the 3 per cent rule at Guinness is good for you
Jeff Prestridge investigates why Guinness adopts a ‘three per cent rule’ across its investment funds
Nov '17
Why the outlook for global dividend growth isn’t doom and gloom
Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page, who head up the Guinness Global Equity Income fund, tell FE Trustnet why they’re confident of finding attractive income-paying opportunities.
Sep '16
Fund buy list radar: wealth managers toast Guinness
Citywire look at the funds that are building sufficient assets and have the track record to be coming onto buy list radars
Sep '16
How important are face-to-face company meetings?
Guinness AM’s Matthew Page, co-manager of the Global Equity Income & Global Innovators funds, gives his take on the value and limitations of meeting company management.
Apr '16
Funds to Watch
Against a backdrop of the ongoing debate about the Investment Association’s yield criteria for the UK Equity Income sector, Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page, co-managers of the $147m Guinness Global Equity Income fund, have highlighted the benefits of a broader approach in this area.
Apr '16
Fund of the week: Guinness Global Equity Income
Matthew Page, co-manager of the Guinness Global Equity Income fund, explains the test each share must pass to win a place in his 35-stock portfolio
May '15
EM exposure pays off for Guinness duo
FT Adviser discuss the Fund’s emerging market exposure with co-manager Ian Mortimer
Feb '15
Press release – Global Equity Income early investor share class closing
Guinness are closing the early investor (“Z”) share class on its Global Equity Income Fund on 30th April 2015.
Aug '14
Physics envy – economists’ hunt for natural laws of markets
Matthew Page discusses economists’ failure to identify deterministic “natural laws” of markets.
Jun '14
Fund update from Charles Stanley Direct: Guinness Global Equity Income
Charles Stanley’s Rob Morgan gives his verdict on Guinness Global Equity Income Fund and its up and coming managers.
May '14
Cheap Asian stocks – Matthew Page
Asian stocks are good value versus their history, and scoring well on our stock screening.
Aug '13
Prospects for Global Equities
Ian Mortimer discusses the state of the markets amid potential Fed relief tapering with Business News Network.
Key documents
Application Forms
Prospectus
| Fact sheets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| For information on the Fund’s current investments, please see the latest fact sheet: | English | French | German | Italian |
| Key facts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch date | 31/12/2010 | ||
| Fund managers
(start date) |
Ian Mortimer (31/12/2010) Matthew Page (31/12/2010) |
||
| Benchmark | MSCI World Index | ||
| IA sector | IA Global Equity Income | ||
| Structure | OEIC (UCITS) | ||
| Domicile | Ireland | ||
| Underlying currency | US Dollar | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Daily, forwards | ||
| Valuation | 2300 Dublin time | ||
| Deal cut off time | 1500 Dublin time | ||
| Administrator | Link Fund Administrators (Ireland) Ltd | ||
| Custodian | Brown Brothers Harriman | ||
| UK Reporting Fund status | Yes | ||
| ISA Eligible | Yes | ||
| Share classes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class | OCF current | Max. Initial Charge | Min. Investment | ISIN | SEDOL | Bloomberg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund C EUR Acc | 1.84% | 5% | € 0 | IE00BGHQF631 | BGHQF63 | GUGLECE ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund C EUR Dist | 1.84% | 5% | € 0 | IE00BDGV0183 | BDGV018 | GUGLCED ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund C GBP Acc | 1.84% | 5% | £0 | IE00BVYPNV92 | BVYPNV9 | GUGCGBA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund C GBP Dist | 1.84% | 5% | £0 | IE00B3PB1722 | B3PB172 | GUGLEIC ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund C USD Acc | 1.84% | 5% | $0 | IE00BVYPNW00 | BVYPNW0 | GUGCUSA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund C USD Dist | 1.84% | 5% | $0 | IE00B42XCP33 | B42XCP3 | GUGLEIB ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund D EUR Acc | 1.19% | 0% | €0 | IE00BDGV0290 | BDGV029 | GUGLDEA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund D EUR Dist | 1.19% | 0% | € 0 | IE00B66B5L40 | B66B5L4 | GUGLEID ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund D USD Dist | 1.19% | 0% | $0 | IE00B3QG6N78 | B3QG6N7 | GUGLEIA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund I USD Acc | 0.99% | 0% | $10,000,000 | IE00BJBK7883 | BJBK788 | GUGEIMU ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund I USD Dist | 0.99% | 0% | $10,000,000 | IE00BGK8P991 | BGK8P99 | GUGEIMD ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Y EUR Acc | 0.84% | 5% | € 0 | IE00BVYPNZ31 | BVYPNZ3 | GUGYEUA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Y EUR Dist | 0.84% | 5% | € 0 | IE00BVYPP024 | BVYPP02 | GUGYEUD ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Y GBP Acc | 0.84% | 5% | £0 | IE00BVYPNY24 | BVYPNY2 | GUGYGBA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Y GBP Dist | 0.84% | 5% | £0 | IE00BVYPP131 | BVYPP13 | GUGYGBD ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Y USD Acc | 0.84% | 5% | $0 | IE00BVYPNX17 | BVYPNX1 | GUGYUSA ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Y USD Dist | 0.84% | 5% | $0 | IE00BVYPP248 | BVYPP24 | GUGYUSD ID |
| Guinness Global Equity Income Fund Z GBP Dist | 0.65% | 0% | Closed | IE00B754QH41 | B754QH4 | GUGLEIZ ID |