In this update with the fund manager Oliver Russ we discussed the fund and the opportunities for the sector. The fund’s main focus is on paying an income, and its historic yield is 5.4% p.a. The fund was originally the Argonaut European Income Fund and then was purchased by Liontrust in 2016. We have compared performance against two ETFS (income and growth) and in both cases the fund has outperformed them.
European Income isn’t necessarily one that springs to mind but Oliver argues this is an under invested sector. With bonds not yielding much and therefore offering little value, combined with greater life expectancy in retirement the hunt for income is ever greater. Europe is an area which offers investors opportunities. He believes that as an investment it offers diversification across sectors, countries and currency which you wouldn’t get with a traditional UK Income Fund.