AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund
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Annual Long Report and Audited Financial Statements Year ended 15 December 2020 AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund AXA IM - RESTRICTED AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund Issued by AXA Investment Managers UK Ltd authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Contents Page Fund Objective* ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Investment Review* .................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Portfolio Changes* ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Managing Risks* .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Fund Information .......................................................................................................................................................................11 Comparative Tables ...................................................................................................................................................................12 Portfolio Statement* .................................................................................................................................................................14 Statement of Total Return ........................................................................................................................................................21 Statement of Change in Net Assets Attributable to Unitholders ............................................................................................21 Balance Sheet ............................................................................................................................................................................22 Notes to the Financial Statements ...........................................................................................................................................23 Distribution Tables.....................................................................................................................................................................32 Statement of Manager's Responsibilities .................................................................................................................................35 Report of the Trustee ................................................................................................................................................................36 Report of the Independent Auditor ..........................................................................................................................................37 Further Information (Unaudited)* ...........................................................................................................................................41 Directory* ..................................................................................................................................................................................43 * These collectively comprise the Authorised Fund Manager's ("the Manager's") Report for the Trust. More detailed information about AXA Investment Managers’ UK funds is available on the Fund Centre of our website where you can find the Prospectus, Key Investor Information Document (KIID), annual reports and monthly fund factsheets at https://retail.axa-im.co.uk/fund-centre. 2 AXA IM - RESTRICTED AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund Fund Objective The aim of AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund (“the Fund”) is to produce a high income with potential for long-term growth of capital. The Fund invests primarily (meaning at least 70% of its assets) in bonds issued by companies (principally UK companies) which the Manager believes will provide above-average income. The Fund may also invest in bonds issued by governments and shares of companies. The Manager selects bonds and shares based upon analysis of a company's financial status, quality of its management, expected profitability and prospects for growth. This Fund is actively managed without reference to any Benchmark. The IA Sterling Strategic Bond Sector may be used by investors to compare the Fund's performance. 3 AXA IM - RESTRICTED AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund Investment Review The Fund’s year was dominated by the global spread of COVID- Top Ten Holdings 19. Reports began to emerge in February about multiple deaths as at 15 December 2020 % from a new virus in the Wuhan province in China. Initially, this Premier Oil 6.5% 31/05/21 2.01 was viewed as an isolated problem in China. It soon became Oil & Gas apparent that this wasn’t the case as this virus rapidly spread Provident Financial 8.25% 04/06/23 2.00 across the entire world. The modern economy with global airline links is perfectly structured to enable its spread. Financials TP ICAP 5.25% 26/01/24 1.99 Eastern countries fared better to the rest of the world, partly Financials due to their experiences with the SARS outbreak earlier in the Vodafone 4.875% 03/10/78 1.99 century. These countries imposed strict lockdowns and in the Telecommunications main managed to control the outbreak; with the benefit of BAT International Finance 2.5% 09/09/52 1.99 hindsight, the initial measures imposed in both Europe and the Consumer Goods US were not strict enough. Initially, some countries embarked Go-Ahead 2.5% 06/07/24 1.99 on a strategy of attempting to achieve herd immunity. As the Industrials outbreak spread, it soon became apparent that health services M&G 5.56% 20/07/55 1.98 would be overwhelmed. Financials Yorkshire Building Society 3.375% 13/09/28 1.98 Across the Western world, authorities imposed harsh Financials lockdowns, which caused many businesses to stop operating. Viridian Power and Energy 4.75% 15/09/24 1.98 They also introduced comprehensive measures to provide Oil & Gas support to both businesses and individuals who were unable to Investec Bank 4.25% 24/07/28 1.95 operate. These included paying the majority of wages of those Financials who were unable to work up to a limit and targeted to help Stocks shown as ADR's represent American businesses. Depositary Receipts. Central banks responded rapidly by cutting interest rates and by reactivating quantitative easing (QE) measures. UK interest rates were cut from 0.75% to 0.1%. Economic activity fell markedly with the UK economy seeing the largest decline for over three centuries. The combination of QE and lowered interest rates were supportive to government bond markets, despite governments having issued record amounts of bonds to fund the souring government deficits caused by the support they had to provide. The quantity of bonds with a negative yield reached record levels, with over $17 trillion of bonds trading with a yield below zero in November. It is a remarkable indication of the state of the world economy that investors are prepared to hold such an amount of bonds which, if held to maturity, are guaranteed to produce a negative return in the local currency. Corporate bonds saw a two-way pull with the low or negative yields of government bonds being supportive while, in many ways, the underlying credit factors for the corporate was a negative. The oil market is a good illustration of the negative forces on the bond markets. As the world economy slumped in the second quarter, the oil price plunged as the demand reduced. For a brief period, the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude (WTI) fell to below zero. This was only seen for a short period, but oil prices fell substantially due to reduced demand. This was obviously a negative credit event for most companies in the oil industry. The harsh lockdowns helped control infection numbers which allowed governments to lift most of their restrictions. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer helped reduce indoor contact again reducing the growth in cases. The medical sector made great progress in introducing better treatment procedures and, most impressively, managed to compress the time to develop effective vaccines. These are desperately needed to allow the world to safely fully function again. 4 AXA IM - RESTRICTED AXA Framlington Managed Income Fund Investment Review (continued) Normally, the US election would be centre stage, but even this had to play second fiddle to the virus. The virus was a major factor in President Trump’s defeat. Without the virus, Trump would have been seeking re-election supported by a robust economy, and not having been seen to be ineffective in leading the country’s response to the crisis. As the pandemic became widely established in the Western world, financial markets reacted predictably with government bonds strengthening, and any financial assets with any exposure to the health of the economy fell sharply. Due to the rapid reaction by central banks and governments, markets began to stabilise. The stabilisation was initially only seen in assets where the underlying business was unaffected or were beneficiaries of the changed economic environment. As it became clearer, the changed lockdown measures were working, thereby enabling economies to open up the recovery spread to assets with economic sensitivity. As it became clearer that lockdown measures were working