Troy Trojan Ethical Income Class X - Accumulation

The relatively defensive style means the fund tends to hold up well when stock markets fall sharply but lag a rapidly rising stock market.

Given part of the fund invests overseas, we expect it to perform differently to its UK-focused benchmark at times. The fund's ethical exclusions will also affect performance. When the excluded areas are out of favour and their share prices fall, the fund could do well. When they perform well, the fund will miss out. Oil & gas companies, for instance, makes up a relatively large part of the UK stock market and tends to pay high dividends, so the sector features in many equity income funds. The fund may underperform the UK market and UK equity income funds when oil & gas firms perform well, but the reverse is also true.

All Troy funds are run with one overriding aim - to shelter investors' money from the worst stock market falls and increase its value over the long term. Sheltering wealth when the going gets tough means there's less to make back once the good times return.

Hutchins and his team only invest in companies they thoroughly understand, with sustainable advantages over the competition, such as a unique product or service that rivals struggle to copy. This should allow them to generate strong cash flows over the long term, and this could support the company as it reinvests for future growth and pays dividends to shareholders. They avoid companies with high amounts of debt, and those that rely on acquiring other businesses to grow.

The manager won't invest in companies with significant exposure to activities deemed unethical, such as those with significant involvement in armaments, tobacco, pornography, fossil fuels, alcohol, gambling and high interest lending. He also conducts Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) analysis on each company to achieve a deeper understanding of the risks. Where he feels improvements can be made, he'll engage with the company.

Once Hutchins has identified a company that meets the criteria, and passes the ethical screens, they consider its financial strength, how managers' interests are aligned with those of shareholders and, finally, whether its shares are available at an attractive price.

The focus is on large and medium-sized companies, although the manager does have the flexibility to invest in higher-risk smaller companies too. While a large part of this fund invests in the UK, it isn't in the IA UK Equity Income sector. That's so the manager can maintain flexibility and invest part of the fund overseas, particularly there aren’t enough income opportunities in the UK to meet the fund’s ethical and quality criteria.

Please note the fund takes charges from capital, which could boost the income, but reduces the potential for capital growth. The manager also has the flexibility to invest in derivatives which, if used, adds risk.