It’s been a volatile year for the markets, and had you read any articles on investment, they would have all been to a greater or lesser extent tinged with doom and gloom.
However, although it has been a difficult year, it is much of nothing to see if you look at where the markets were this time last year.
As at 22nd December, the FTSE All-Share was down 4.7% over one year, being 4,194 points on 22nd December 2021 and 4,087 points on the same day in 2022. The index did range between 3,712.5 and 4,296.96 across the year, however. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did a bit worse, being around 32,937.81 on 22nd December 2022, and 35,753 on the same day in 2021, a fall of 7.8%.
Top performing funds of 2022
But not everything has been southwards; some sectors have done well this year – Energy and Conglomerates to mention two, and within that Coal Mining, Oil and Pharmaceuticals being the best performing industries.
Some funds have done well too.
According to the FTSE 100 stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, below are the top performing funds of 2022 by discrete performance between December 2021 and December 2022.
We have chosen the six top funds – as the top two funds are the Accumulation and Income versions of the same fund.
| FUND | Discrete Performance December 2021-December 2022 |
| HSBC GIF Turkey Equity (B GBP) [Accumulation] | 140.37% |
| HSBC GIF Turkey Equity (B GBP) [Income] | 140.34% |
| BlackRock Global World Energy (D4 GBP) [Income] | 56.42% |
| Schroder ISF Global Energy (Class Z) [Income] | 50.52% |
| TB Guinness Global Energy (Class I) [Accumulation] | 49.65% |
We highlighted the performance of Turkey (the country, not the Christmas dinner option) a few months ago, noting that though the market has been volatile and the government’s monetary policies “in place in Turkey are unsustainable and not good for the country, or its people, the underlying company fundamentals are too good to be ignored.”
- Ossiam launches fixed income UCITS fund with duration-neutral approach
- Mycelx expects drilling boom to fuel growth
- Corcel focusing on high-potential O&G assets
This has played out in our first pick, the HSBC GIF Turkey Equity (B GBP) [Accumulation] fund, which has returned in one year on a discrete basis 140.37%. The fund is size agnostic and aims to create long term returns from capital growth and income by investing primarily in equity securities and equity equivalent securities of companies which have their registered office in Turkey, and with an official listing on a major stock exchange or other regulated market of Turkey, as well as those companies which carry out a preponderant part of their business activities in Turkey.
Talking Turkey
The fund, which was set up in October 2011 and managed by Emin Yigit Onat has EUR144.4m assets under management. The fund has a strong focus on Consumer Discretionary with a 25.3% allocation according to Hargreaves Lansdown, and Financials at 24.1%. The company also holds 19.4% in Consumer Staples and is a very good reflection of the real domestic Turkish economy, as opposed to the policies of the government.
The HSBC GIF Turkey Equity (B GBP) [Income] is the income version of the fund which returned 140.34% on a discrete basis over one year according to Hargreaves Lansdown.
The rest of the list of top performing funds for 2022 – perhaps unsurprisingly – is made up by funds that have reflected the success of the energy industry this year. 2022 was a year of bumper profits for energy companies with the world’s biggest oil companies’ profits soaring over GBP150bn so far this year, as Russia’s war on Ukraine pushed up energy prices, according to estimates from analysts.
The first, BlackRock Global World Energy, returned from December 2021 to December 2022 on a discrete basis 56.4% according to Hargreaves Lansdown. This fund has USD3.5bn assets under management and has 31 holdings, according to Hargreaves Lansdowne. The fund celebrated its 20th anniversary in October.
Managed by Alastair Bishop, the fund aims to maximise return on investment through a combination of capital growth and income on the fund’s assets. The fund invests globally at least 70% of its total assets in the equity of companies the main business of which is in, the exploration, development, production and distribution of energy. The investment adviser has discretion to select the fund’s investments and in doing so may take into consideration the MSCI World Energy Index.
Its top holdings at end-October were Exxon Mobil NYSE:XOM at 9.7%, Shell LON:SHEL at 9.6%, Cononco NYSE:COP at 8.8%, Chevron NYSE:CVX 5.95% and Total [PAR:TTE] at 5.16%, is overwhelmingly US-focussed at 56.3% – a bit behind the benchmark at 59.9% – and overweight the benchmark in Integrated Power Companies, Exploration and Production, and Distribution.
International perspective
Close behind with a discrete one-year performance of 50.5% according to Hargreaves Lansdown was the Schroder ISF Global Energy. This fund, which has assets of GBP476m, and established in June 2006 and managed by Mark Lacey has a more international outlook than BlackRock, with the largest holdings being Portugal’s’ GALP [ELI:GALP] at 8%, Shell at 5.9% and Spain’s Repsol [BME:REP].
The last on the list, TB Guinness Global Energy, is another energy fund. The fund was launched in March 2008 and is managed by Jonathan Waghorn, Will Riley, Tim Guinness. With assets under management at USD400m as at June 2022, the fund has returned on a discrete one-year basis 49.7% according to Hargreaves Lansdown.
The aim of the fund is to provide capital growth over rolling periods of five-years in excess of the Cboe UK All Companies Index and in line with or in excess of the Consumer Price Index, in each case after charges. Its top holdings were Exxon (6%), Chevron (5.5%), Total (5.3%), Conoco (5%) and American oil company Valero NYSE:VLO at 4.75%. The fund is benchmarked against the MSCI World/Energy TR Index.
