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QUARTERLY BUILDING BLOCK COMMENTARY GLOBAL PORTFOLIOS EDITION JUNE 2020

QUARTERLY BUILDING BLOCK COMMENTARY · 3 QUARTERLY BUILDING BLOCK COMMENTARY GLOBAL PORTFOLIOS EDITION JUNE 2020 GLO AL EQUITY Building Block Information Building Block Objective

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Page 1: QUARTERLY BUILDING BLOCK COMMENTARY · 3 QUARTERLY BUILDING BLOCK COMMENTARY GLOBAL PORTFOLIOS EDITION JUNE 2020 GLO AL EQUITY Building Block Information Building Block Objective

QUARTERLY BUILDING BLOCK COMMENTARY

GLOBAL PORTFOLIOS EDITION

JUNE 2020

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GLOBAL PORTFOLIOS EDITION JUNE 2020

CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Creating a Risk Curve .............................................................................................................................................................. 2

Document Purpose .............................................................................................................................................................. 2

Global Equity ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Building Block Information ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Underlying Fund Performance ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Fund Changes Over the Year ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Underlying Fund Commentary ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Global Property ........................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Building Block Information ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Underlying Building Block Performance ................................................................................................................... 10

Building Block Changes Over the Year ...................................................................................................................... 11

Underlying Fund Commentary ...................................................................................................................................... 11

Global Listed Infrastructure .................................................................................................................................................... 14

Building Block Information ............................................................................................................................................ 14

Underlying Building Block Performance ................................................................................................................... 14

Building Block Changes Over the Year ...................................................................................................................... 15

Underlying Fund Commentary ...................................................................................................................................... 15

Global Bonds ................................................................................................................................................................................ 17

Building Block Information ............................................................................................................................................ 17

Underlying Building Block Performance ................................................................................................................... 17

Building Block Changes Over the Year ............................................................................................................................ 18

Underlying Fund Commentary ...................................................................................................................................... 20

Disclaimers ................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

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INTRODUCTION

The PortfolioMetrix Global Portfolios are constructed by making use of two multi-asset funds that are domiciled in Ireland. These funds are UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) funds and are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. The two funds that are used to create the product set are described below:

PortfolioMetrix Global Equity Fund (A sub-fund of Prescient Global Funds ICAV)

This is a high growth (high risk) fund and will invest mainly in global listed equities via underlying fund managers. Sources of returns will come from capital appreciation and dividends earned from underlying equity securities. The fund also has some exposure to real assets such as global listed property and global listed infrastructure. It is important to note that these real assets are still listed equity instruments but fall within the respective listed property or infrastructure definitions.

PortfolioMetrix Global Diversified Fund (A sub-fund of Prescient Global Funds ICAV)

This is a balanced (mid risk) fund and will invest in global listed equities as well as fixed interest instruments via underlying fund managers. Sources of returns will come from capital appreciation, dividends earned from underlying equity securities and interest earned from fixed interest instruments. The fund also has some exposure to real assets such as global listed property and global listed infrastructure. It is important to note that these real assets are still listed equity instruments but fall within the respective listed property or infrastructure definitions.

CREATING A RISK CURVE The funds described above are constructed through an optimisation framework that attempts to maximise returns for a given level of risk. Given that we have a mid-risk fund and a high-risk fund we can create portfolios that have risks in between these two anchor points by blending them together, as illustrated below.

Document Purpose The information contained in the sections below is intended to provide a review of the performance of the underlying asset classes. A portfolios holding in a particular asset class is a function of the relative weights of the two funds that have been blended to create the portfolio. Performance feedback is created by PortfolioMetrix by making use of proprietary tools, manager engagements and commentary prepared by underlying managers.

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GLOBAL EQUITY

Building Block Information

Building Block Objective The building block emphasises longer-term growth in capital while accepting a higher degree of risk. The fund will invest in other unit trusts that in turn invest primarily in global equity securities. The fund aims to provide risk and return characteristics of global equities and the benchmark is the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI).

Building Block Benchmark MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI)

Underlying Fund Strategies

Underlying Fund Performance Note: The performance and commentary presented for this UCITS fund is subject to the disclaimers provided at the end of this document. Please refer to the prospectus and the Key Investor Information Document for more information. All returns are quoted in US dollars.

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

Underlying Fund Weights

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Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Fund Changes Over the Year 1. A rebalance was carried out in January 2020. Detail of this can be found in this document: C:\Dropbox

(PMX)\PMXSA Adviser Documents\2. Multi Managed Portfolio Information\2. Global Portfolio Series\3. Portfolio Updates\20200117 GPS Rebalance Commentary.pdf

-35.0%

-30.0%

-25.0%

-20.0%

-15.0%

-10.0%

-5.0%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

12 Month Performance

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

110.0

120.0

28/06/19 28/07/19 28/08/19 28/09/19 28/10/19 28/11/19 28/12/19 28/01/20 28/02/20 28/03/20 28/04/20 28/05/20 28/06/20

Benchmark vs Building Block

MSCI ACWI Portfoliometrix Global Equity

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Fund Performance vs Developed and Emerging Market Indices Over the Year

Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Underlying Fund Commentary

PortfolioMetrix Prescient Global Equity Fund

Summary

• The PortfolioMetrix Prescient Global Equity fund underperformed the MSCI ACWI over the last year. The fund achieved a return of -17% vs the benchmark return of -11.2% (in US dollars)

• Asset Class Total Returns and Asset Class Relative Returns to MSCI ACWI (in rands) are shown below:

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

110.0

120.0

28/06/19 28/07/19 28/08/19 28/09/19 28/10/19 28/11/19 28/12/19 28/01/20 28/02/20 28/03/20 28/04/20 28/05/20 28/06/20

Fund vs MSCI Indices

MSCI ACWI Portfoliometrix Global Equity MSCI World MSCI Emerging Markets

6.9% 4.8% 3.1% 1.2%

-2.9%-7.3%

-12.6% -14.6%-17.6%

-24.0%

-32.2%-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

North AmericaEquity

EM Asia Equity Japan Equity Cash Europe ex-UKEquity

ListedInfrastructure

Pacific ex JapanEquity

Global Property(Dev. Rental)

UK Equity EM EuropeEquity

EM LatinAmerica Equity

Asset Class Total Returns

1 Year

Q2 2020

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• Fund Excess Returns over their Regional Benchmarks are shown below:

Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Detail Much has been written and said about the dislocations in global equity markets; these seemed to have stretched further this past year and indeed this quarter. We have seen the dislocations play out in several ways. First it has been a value and growth story, the value factor having underperformed since around 2006 and its underperformance accelerating year-to-date (YTD). We have seen it regionally where the US stock market has persistently outperformed sine the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). We have also seen it more recently in the size factor as smaller stocks have been battered and mega caps have powered on driving concentration in traditional market capitalisation weighted indices. However, the divergence of sector performance is stark, and this has really driven all other factors along with it.

What concerns us is the concentrated nature of these divergences. This can be shown in several ways but for simplicity we include the chart below:

4.8%

-5.0%

-19.7%

1.0%

-14.7%-16.7%

-9.4%

2.7%

-26.1%

-34.3%

0.0%

-40%

-35%

-30%

-25%

-20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

North AmericaEquity

Europe ex-UKEquity

UK Equity Japan Equity Pacific ex JapanEquity

Global Property(Dev. Rental)

ListedInfrastructure

EM Asia Equity EM EuropeEquity

EM LatinAmerica Equity

Cash

Growth Assets Defensive Assets

Asset Class Relative Returns versus Broad Asset Class Benchmark

1 Year

Q2 2020

17.0% 16.1%

8.9% 7.3% 5.8% 3.8% 2.6% 0.0%

-0.7% -1.1% -1.5% -3.8% -5.0% -6.8%-10.4%

-19.7%-25%-20%-15%-10%

-5%0%5%

10%15%20%

Excess Return over the Fund's Regional Benchmark

1 Year

Q2 2020

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Source: https://www.theice.com/fangplus

The FANG+ Index is an index of the following companies – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, Alibaba, Baidu, Nvidia, Tesla, Twitter. We can see from the above that the FANG+ Index has significantly outperformed the broader market and has even outpaced the general Information Technology sector significantly.

Below we look at the MSCI North American Index Top 10 as at 30 June 2020:

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The MSCI ACWI Index (global benchmark) has the following top 10:

From the above we can see that there is a lot of overlap between the FANG+ Index, the MSCI North America Index and the MSCI ACWI Index (North America is approximately 60% of the ACWI). This brings me to the next chart which demonstrates the performance of mega-cap growth stocks vs the S&P 500 ex mega-cap growth YTD.

The unbelievable performance of the mega caps has driven the global equity market. It is important to note that the mega-cap growth stocks in the above chart account for only eleven stocks and the other line constitutes the remaining 489 stocks of the S&P500. What can be seen in the chart is that the composite without the mega caps is still well below where it started in the beginning of the year. Effectively the broader market outside of the mega caps have lagged significantly and speak to the concentrated nature of the recovery in the second quarter.

The various themes discussed above are shown below in the return table for this year and the cumulative excess return chart against the broader market index (MSCI ACWI):

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Visually you can see the order of divergence driven first by sector performance followed by the value / growth style performance, then the size premium and lastly the regional effect.

The performance of the fund has certainly been affected by these large divergences. Underperformance in the fund is the result of the following:

• A moderate underweight to tech (as a look through from portfolio holdings of underlying managers).

• A relatively large underweight to the mega-caps (even though we hold a cheap index tracker for North America – which means we own the big tech stocks; just not enough); and

• Regionally favouring markets outside of the US on a relative basis even though our exposure to North America is a little under 50%.

The managers we invest with are focusing on companies likely to survive the current recession and its aftermath. There are broadly two types of such companies. Those called ‘quality’ companies, whose revenues are not expected to fall much if at all (tech companies would be an example of this). The problem with these sorts of companies is that they have already done very well and are hence expensive. Historically, as markets have begun to recover these sorts of companies have continued to do well, but their shares have sometimes fallen as investors seek out bargains.

Cumulative Excess Return versus MSCI ACWI from 2019/12/31 to 2020/06/30

-25%

-20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

31/12/2019 31/01/2020 29/02/2020 31/03/2020 30/04/2020 31/05/2020 30/06/2020

MSCI ACWI

MSCI ACWI

MSCI ACWI Growth

MSCI ACWI Value

MSCI ACWI Small Cap

S&P500

MSCI Europe

S&P 500 Information Technology (Sector)

S&P 500 Financials (Sector)

0

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This leads us to the second type of survivor – the type our managers are focusing on, the bargains. These are companies that have been heavily hit by the crisis, and so are cheap, but have the financial reserves and flexibility to be able to survive and take advantage of competitors who are in a weaker position. This focus has not helped the fund recently as the market has favoured only a very narrow subset of stocks which are concentrated in a particular theme and industry. We are of the opinion that patience is required to let the large divergences mentioned above play out and level the playing field.

We maintain diversification (across asset classes, investment styles, currencies, countries and fund managers) to help with the risks, but given the opportunities we see in portfolios we think they are well positioned for the future.

GLOBAL PROPERTY

Building Block Information

Building Block Objective The building blocks objective is to provide investors with income as well as long-term capital growth by investing in global property markets. The fund’s benchmark is the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Rental Index (Net Total Return).

Building Block Benchmark FTSE EPRA NAREIT Developed Rental Index

Underlying Fund Strategies Catalyst Fund Managers: 100%

Underlying Building Block Performance Note: The performance and commentary presented for this building block are subject to the disclaimers provided at the end of this document. All returns are quoted in US dollars.

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Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Building Block Changes Over the Year None

Underlying Fund Commentary

Summary

• Over the past year the FTSE E/N Developed Rental Index returned -14.8% in USD terms, whilst the Catalyst Global Real Estate Fund returned -8.9%,

o The PortfolioMetrix implementation outperformed the Benchmark by 5.8% o Over the quarter the fund outperformed by 0.4%

-14.8%

-8.9%

-16.0%

-14.0%

-12.0%

-10.0%

-8.0%

-6.0%

-4.0%

-2.0%

0.0%

FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Rental Catalyst Global Real Estate

12 Month Performance

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

110.0

120.0

28/06/19 28/07/19 28/08/19 28/09/19 28/10/19 28/11/19 28/12/19 28/01/20 28/02/20 28/03/20 28/04/20 28/05/20 28/06/20

Benchmark vs Underlying Funds

FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Rental Catalyst Global Real Estate

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• Developed Rental has beaten the non-Rental index over the past year by 6.16% in USD terms

• Regionally during Quarter 2 (total USD return); o Australia rebounded strongly after a larger Q1 selloff to deliver 35.84% for the 3-months, o Japan was the worst performing region with 4.89%

• Sector favourites included e-commerce and last-mile logistics facing businesses, data centres, and defensive housing sectors such as Multifamily, manufactured, and single family homes

• Global Property is offering value over global bonds (corporates and government bonds) in a very low yield environment.

Detail The underlying fund over the quarter produced the following relative returns (vs the FTSE E/N Developed Rental Index, USD):

• Catalyst Global Real Estate: Underperformed by 1.45%

The past quarter saw a rebound from the previous one, but certainly by a more discerning market. In the first quarter most sectors and regions sold off heavily, the second quarter demonstrated a perceived “new economy” where hotels and retail were neglected in favour of more liquid and defensive counters such as those operating in residential, last mile logistics, and e-commerce. None of these prior trends are new, but the pandemic this year has accelerated them, by some estimates the fast-tracked progress is in the region of 3 years in a mere 3-month period.

The asset class is not without risks but it appears that the initial shock and uncertainty earlier this year may subside to some degree. In an environment where the broader capital market is providing little to no yield, Global Property currently has a spread of more than 350bps over global bonds, this is also higher than the long-term average spread of 240bps:

Source: Sesfikile Capital

The sell-off in March also provided some buying opportunities of quality companies that had previously traded at or above fair value. Looking at sectoral performance for the first half of 2020 paints a clear picture of some of the opportunities:

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Source: Catalyst

Catalyst made some changes to their portfolios (to reflect the new economic landscape), many of the changes remained within their earlier investment cases, perhaps a testament to this is their longer-term performance. One of the major threats to valuations lies in balance sheet strength (specifically debt covenants) and revenues. It is thus worth reflecting on both of these with some hard data. Research performed by UBS and Sesfikile indicates that gearing levels (and threats to covenant breaches) remains low, this case is further reinforced by exceptionally low global rates (both government and corporate). The low gearing levels are in contrast to the high metrics seen during the 2008 Financial Crisis.

Source: Sesfikile Capital, UBS

Rental collections across the globe faced various positive and negative factors, but in most cases the collections were better than expected. In some instances, governments served as guarantor, and in others policy response quelled the impact of a drawn-out economic lock-down. The following image shows collection rates over the period of April and May:

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Source: Sesfikile Capital

Alongside low rental collections for Hotels and Malls, Office is facing an uncertain future. There is no doubt that demand will be lower, but that is not to say that demand will recede completely as a dedicated work space benefits many, it is likely that the office spaces located close to major transport hubs and infrastructure will be most in demand. The doubt over these large-space tenants also means that developers face a more uncertain future; just what will the demand be? That is to some extent reflected in the performance numbers between developers and rental-focussed companies (a developer also faces the challenge of projects already in-progress).

GLOBAL LISTED INFRASTRUCTURE

Building Block Information

Building Block Objective The building blocks objective is to provide investors with income as well as long-term capital growth by investing in listed global infrastructure companies. The fund’s benchmark is the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI).

Building Block Benchmark MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI)

PortfolioMetrix Benchmark: FTSE Global Core Infrastructure 50/50

Underlying Fund Strategies M&G Global Listed Infrastructure: 100%

Underlying Building Block Performance Note: The performance and commentary presented for this building block are subject to the disclaimers provided at the end of this document. All returns are quoted in US dollars.

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Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Building Block Changes Over the Year None

Underlying Fund Commentary • Over the past year the FTSE Global Core Infrastructure 50/50 Index returned -7.33% in USD terms,

whilst the PortfolioMetrix implementation returned 1.64%.

• The PortfolioMetrix implementation: o Generated significant alpha of 11.43% over the quarter o Outperformed the benchmark by 8.96% over the past 12 months

• The biggest contributor to outperformance was the increased allocation to Energy infrastructure

-7.3%

1.6%

-8.0%

-7.0%

-6.0%

-5.0%

-4.0%

-3.0%

-2.0%

-1.0%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

FTSE Global Core Infrastructure 50/50 M&G Global Listed Infrastructure

12 Month Performance

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

110.0

120.0

28/06/19 28/07/19 28/08/19 28/09/19 28/10/19 28/11/19 28/12/19 28/01/20 28/02/20 28/03/20 28/04/20 28/05/20 28/06/20

Benchmark vs Underlying Funds

FTSE Global Core Infrastructure 50/50 M&G Global Listed Infrastructure

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• Airports have seen the largest earnings revision for CY2020 (-67%), but still rebounded strongly off its Q1 lows.

• Australia (32%) and Toll Roads (28%) led the quarter’s performance respectively for regions and sectors.

Detail The fund philosophy of M&G played out very nicely over the last quarter where a focus on critical infrastructure, long-life concessions, and perpetual royalties reflected their defensive nature. Infrastructure, as an addition to portfolios, has played out very well during this period of flux and uncertainty as it essentially reflects characteristics of its underlying contractual and long-term cash flows, without necessarily giving up growth opportunities.

The asset class, like many, rebounded from oversold levels in the first quarter. The leading sectors included Toll Roads and Airports, and regionally Australia led the way after their listed market was unduly punished earlier in the year.

Source: First State Investments

Of course, the market volatility has largely been the result of COVID-19, lockdown policies, and the associated economic impacts. Turning an eye to sector earnings and there would be no surprise that Airports have seen their earnings forecasts revised downwards by 67%, whereas the defensive nature of Utilities has seen a small upwards revision of 3% for the full calendar year 2020.

The underlying fund over the quarter produced the following relative returns (vs the FTSE Global Core Infrastructure 50/50 Index, USD):

• M&G Global Listed Infrastructure: Outperformed by 11.43%

The primary driver of outperformance lay in the funds ability to move quickly into Energy infrastructure which lagged the rebound off March lows amidst global demand concerns. In addition to this a key holding in portfolio was sold, Intercontinental Exchange expressed interest in buying eBay. This conflicted with the previously communicated strategy and provided a good opportunity for the portfolio manager to take profits and exhibit good portfolio discipline. The stock subsequently sold off.

The M&G fund does not aim to be excessively active (preferring to hold companies for long durations) but the recent market turmoil has provided many good opportunities to purchase companies below their fair values. In addition, the portfolio retains a healthy active share, this is shown by the portfolios largest holdings table as of the end of the quarter:

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This specialist active strategy has performed well through the recent market volatility as well as on a longer-term basis due to their process and discipline. On its own this does not guarantee future success but certainly stacks the odds in favour of it.

GLOBAL BONDS

Building Block Information

Building Block Objective The building block aims to achieve long-term growth of capital and income. The fund’s benchmark is the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Fund.

Building Block Benchmark Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Fund

Underlying Fund Strategies

Underlying Building Block Performance Note: The performance and commentary presented for this building block are subject to the disclaimers provided at the end of this document. All returns are quoted in US dollars.

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

Pimco GIS Global Bond Inst Allianz Global Credit Amundi Pioneer GlobalHigh Yield

Pimco GIS Emerging LocalBond

Pimco GIS EmergingMarkets Bond USD

Pimco GIS EmergingMarkets Bond Hedged EUR

Underlying Fund Weights

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Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Source: PortfolioMetrix, FinXL

Building Block Changes Over the Year 1. A rebalance was carried out in January 2020. Detail of this can be found in this document: C:\Dropbox

(PMX)\PMXSA Adviser Documents\2. Multi Managed Portfolio Information\2. Global Portfolio Series\3. Portfolio Updates\20200117 GPS Rebalance Commentary.pdf

-8.0%

-6.0%

-4.0%

-2.0%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

Bloomberg BarclaysGlobal Aggregate

Building Block Pimco GIS GlobalBond Inst

Allianz Global Credit Amundi PioneerGlobal High Yield

Pimco GIS EmergingLocal Bond

Pimco GIS EmergingMarkets Bond USD

Pimco GIS EmergingMarkets BondHedged EUR

12 Month Performance

70.0

75.0

80.0

85.0

90.0

95.0

100.0

105.0

110.0

28/06/19 28/07/19 28/08/19 28/09/19 28/10/19 28/11/19 28/12/19 28/01/20 28/02/20 28/03/20 28/04/20 28/05/20 28/06/20

Benchmark vs Underlying Funds

Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Amundi Pioneer Global High Yield

Pimco GIS Global Bond Inst Pimco GIS Emerging Local Bond

Pimco GIS Emerging Markets Bond USD Pimco GIS Emerging Markets Bond Hedged EUR

Allianz Global Credit

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Global 10 Year Yields

Source: Bloomberg

Credit and High Yield Spreads

Source: Bloomberg

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

US Generic Govt 10 Year Yield Euro Generic Govt Bond 10 Year Japan Generic Govt 10Y Yield

UK Generic Govt 10Y Yield Australia Govt Bonds Generic Y

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

BC GA Corporate Avg OAS BC GA Credit Avg OAS BC Global HY Avg OAS

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Underlying Fund Commentary

Summary

• The building block underperformed the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index over the last year with the building block returning 1.6% and the index returning 4.2%. Over the quarter the building block has however generated an impressive return of 8.1% against the benchmark’s 3.3%.

• Global Sovereigns performed the worst over the quarter with a return of 4.9%

• Global Corporates return for the quarter was 8.0%

• Global High Yield had the best quarter returning of 13.8%

• Local Currency EM Bonds returned 13.8%

• The overweight to high yield and EM bonds within the building block was the major cause of the underperformance experienced over the last year. But the resurgence in Q2 is directly attributable to these positions

Detail The PIMCO GIS Global Bond Fund is modestly underweight overall duration (7.12 vs 7.31), with a preference for duration in the U.S. In the eurozone, the fund has been underweight duration in aggregate, particularly in major regional economies that have some durational over weights in satellite regions. The fund is also modestly underweight duration in Japan. The fund continues to take a cautious approach to investment-grade corporate credit, though still favours senior securitized assets, like Agency and non-Agency mortgages as well as UK residential mortgages and Danish covered bonds. Within corporate credit, the fund has maintained an overweight to financials. The team are neutrally positioned on most key developed market currencies, though they favour a basket of select, high yielding EM currencies. The fund is currently yielding 2.5%.

The Allianz Global Credit team kept their overall fund beta broadly in line with that of the benchmark during the month of June given the re-emergence of health risks and after a strong run in credit spreads. The team added two ‘fallen angels’ to the portfolio, namely Ford and Occidental Petroleum, purchasing very short tenor bonds at attractive yields brought about by forced selling. In the EM space they have been making changes to allocations in Latin America, moving from Colombia into Uruguay due to ESG related factors. They have invested in a “sinner turned saint” called Danske Bank, a company emerging from a money laundering scandal with new management and better internal controls. Allianz continue to have a constructive view on investment grade credit as the global economy gradually rebounds. The fund has an effective duration of 7.15 years and yield (to worst) of 1.92%. The average credit rating is A-.

Amundi pioneer are staying positive and selective in the credit space, as they see this spectrum of the market benefiting from fiscal and monetary measures employed to the COVID pandemic. Better-quality, BB companies, in the high yield space will remain the sweet spot in a climate of a slow recovery, very low rates and rising defaults. They are looking for opportunities in the primary market, where activity is at a record high. They are expecting default rates to increase for low rated high yield issuers and this is not fully priced in by the market, so selection is paramount and they are positioning accordingly. Keeping liquidity buffers in place is important, as the likelihood of a second market sell-off cannot be ruled out. Having the optionality to move into different segments of the market with attractive entry points is very important. The strategies duration is currently 3.72 years. Assets Allocations are primarily centred in the US HY: 48%, EM: 23%, remaining DM HY:14%, with cash/other constituting +/- 15%.

Both the hard currency and local currency EM bond funds from PIMCO outperformed their respective benchmarks for the quarter. The difference between the two is that the hard currency fund focusses on debt issued by emerging economies that are denominated mainly in USD or EUR and the local currency fund focusses on debt issues denominated in the currency of the respective EM countries. Although it is the same entity issuing the debt the asset classes behave differently with the local currency debt generally more risky (due to the currency conversion risk). The difference in how these two asset classes behave can be seen in the varying

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factors that drove performance in the funds for the quarter. In the local currency side, positive returns were sourced from being overweight to EM local duration and detractors came from currency exposure to the Argentinian and Dominican Peso currencies. On the hard currency side of things outperformance came from exposure to Ukrainian sovereign debt, an underweight to Chinese sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt and exposure to select South African corporate debt. Detractors to performance came from EM spread duration and curve positioning along the US curve. Generally, PIMCO is being quite selective in their positioning with a very strong focus on quality and avoiding those that are seen as “clear losers” through the Covid shock. Emphasis is given to higher quality investment-grade rated sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt while retaining modest exposure to select cross-over BB rated names. The team are also focussing on countries with IMF programs and credible reforms and continue to take advantage of off-benchmark opportunities offering yield pick-up. Conversely, the portfolios are generally underweight countries vulnerable to a collapse in oil prices or to negative implications on tourism

Underlying Fund Excess Return versus it's respective PMX Fixed Income Index

3.1%

-0.5

%

1.6%

2.8%

2.6%

4.8%

0.1%

-2.3

%

-4.6

%

-1.5

%

4.9%

0.6%

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

Pimco Global Bond Allianz Global Credit Amundi Pioneer GlobalHigh Yield

Pimco EM Bond (Local) Pimco EM Bond (HUSD)

Pimco EM Bond (H EUR)

Global Bonds

2020 Q2 Past 1 Yr

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DISCLAIMERS

This document is only for professional financial advisers, their clients and their prospective clients. The information given here is for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute financial, legal, tax, investment or other professional advice. It should not be relied upon as such and PortfolioMetrix cannot accept any liability for loss for doing so. If you are a retail investor, your financial adviser can help explain the information provided. Any forecasts, expected future returns or expected future volatilities are not guaranteed and should not be relied upon. The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up, and you may not recover the amount of your original investment. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Portfolio holdings and asset allocation can change at any time without notice. PortfolioMetrix Asset Management Ltd is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority and in Ireland by the Central Bank of Ireland for the Conduct of Business Rules. Full calculation methodology available on request. The PortfolioMetrix Global Equity and PortfolioMetrix Global Diversified Funds are authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as sub-funds of Prescient Global Funds ICAV, an open ended umbrella type Irish collective asset-management vehicle with variable capital and segregated liability between sub-funds registered and authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland to carry on business as an ICAV, pursuant to Part 2 of the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles Act 2015, as may be amended from time to time. Authorisation of the Fund by the Central Bank of Ireland is not an endorsement or guarantee nor is the Central Bank of Ireland responsible for the contents of the prospectus. Authorisation by the Central Bank of Ireland shall not constitute a warranty as to the performance of the Fund. No warranty or representation is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this document and the Central Bank of Ireland shall not be liable for the performance or default of the portfolio. Prospective investors should consult a stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant, financial adviser or their professional advisers accordingly. Shares in the PortfolioMetrix Global Equity Fund cannot be offered in any jurisdiction in which such offer is not authorised or registered. Copies of the prospectus, annual and half- yearly reports of Prescient Global Funds ICAV, and the Key Investor

Information Documents for the funds are available in English and may be obtained, free of charge, from

Prescient Fund Services (Ireland) Limited at 49 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, Ireland or by visiting

www.prescient.ie. Copies may also be obtained directly from PortfolioMetrix Asset Management by emailing

[email protected].

Copies of the monthly Minimum Disclosure Documents may be obtained directly from PortfolioMetrix Asset

Management Ltd by emailing [email protected].