29 January 2007
Winterthur Life announces the launch of the Winterthur F&C Stewardship Income fund and the Winterthur Jupiter Ecology fund. These two new ethical funds complement the existing range of funds available through the company’s Tailored Selection range of investment funds on both individual and life products.
The F&C Stewardship Income fund offers a core UK Equity product with a robust screening of investments on both negative and positive ethical environment criteria. It appeals to most ethical investors but not at the expense of investment performance. In contrast, the Jupiter Ecology fund employs a positive investment approach, seeking specific global environmental investments which offer solutions to environmental problems.
Winterthur F&C Stewardship Income fund:
• Aims to deliver strong income with capital growth through investment in UK companies considered to be of long-term benefit to society
• Achieved first quartile growth of 97.43% over 5 years, compared to 65.50% for the IMA UK Equity Income Sector average*
• An independent Committee of Reference supported by research from F&C’s Governance & Sustainable Investment team determines the universe of stocks that meet the fund’s green ethical principles
• All companies held in the fund are actively engaged with social, environmental and ethical issues.
• A bias towards medium and smaller companies due to the ethical exclusion of some large FTSE 100 stocks means a greater prospect of discovering interesting and undervalued stocks
• Employs a barbell management approach, allowing for appropriate risk balance while meeting the fund’s income objective and seeking to generate capital growth
• The fund has an annual management charge of 1.15% and fund expenses of 0.15%.
Winterthur Jupiter Ecology fund:
• Aims to deliver long-term performance through investing in companies principally in the UK
• 80-85% is invested according to six positive thematic categories: green transport, clean energy, environmental services, sustainable living, waste management and water management
• Achieved first quartile ranking over 3 months, 1 year and 3 years cumulative performance*
• Twin-track approach combines the expertise of the specialist Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Fund Management team and the SRI & Governance Team
• The fund currently has an annual management charge of 1.25% and fund expenses of 0.25%.
Bernard Henshall, investment distribution manager, commented: “These two funds have been added to the Tailored Selection platform to meet adviser demand for ethical funds. They have distinct and separate mandates and therefore offer a different yet complementary choice to investors. These funds were selected due to their strong investment track records and consistency in outperforming their sector averages. The funds demonstrate that ethical investing need not require a compromise on performance.”
Ted Scott, head of Stewardship Funds F&C, said: “Investment priorities are changing, investors are not only looking at investment returns but also what companies do with the money they invest. We are delighted Winterthur has added our fund to its Tailored Selection platform and we look forward to working together.”
Emma Howard Boyd, head of socially responsible investment at Jupiter, added: “We are very pleased to be working with Winterthur and believe their pensions expertise combined with our green investment experience will enable us to provide advisers with the best possible investment option.”
* Source: Financial Express, bid to bid, net income reinvested to 29/12/2006. Past performance not a guide to future performance.
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For further information:
Paul Riddell Winterthur Life, Press Office +44 (0)1256 798099
Sandra Fulton Winterthur Life, Press Office +44 (0)1256 798310
Christine Wood Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7269 7253
Notes to Editors
About Winterthur Life UK Limited
Winterthur Life UK Limited is part of Winterthur Group.
Winterthur Life UK offers pensions and investments for high net worth clients distributed via top tier IFAs and is renowned for its innovative approach to financial products. Its philosophy of transparent product propositions offers advisers a range of retirement and investment solutions with an open charging structure.
Winterthur Life UK is an experienced provider of single premium personal pensions, trustee investment plans and corporate pensions via IFAs and a leading provider of self-investment retirement plans like Self Invested Personal Pensions (“Sipps”).
Any opinions expressed in this media communication are made as at the date of publication but are subject to change without notice. Past performance is not a guide to the future. The value of shares/units and the income from them can go down as well as up. Exchange rate fluctuations may cause the value of underlying investments to fall as well as rise. Yields are not guaranteed and may fall or rise.
Winterthur Life UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
www.winterthur-ifa.co.uk
