HL Select Global Growth Shares Reveals First Investments

Launched in April as the third product to be added to its £460m HL Select range, with an OCF of 0.6% and a Vantage fee of up to 0.45%, the fund's aim is to achieve long-term capital growth while maintaining strong communication with investors. 

The fund, which still maintains a 23.4% cash weighting, has invested in 34 holdings, placing it within the stated range of between 30 to 40 holdings.

Currently, the fund invests 8.1% of its portfolio in healthcare supplies, while systems software and interactive media & services represent 5.7% and 5.6% respectively.

The fund has a preference for larger companies, with 24.3% of its portfolio invested in those with a market cap of between £20bn and £50bn, and 33.4% in companies with a market cap of over £50bn.  

With a 72.9% weighting, the US represents the fund's largest country-based exposure, followed by the UK and France with 8.4% and 4.8% each respectively. 

At a stock-specific level, the fund's largest exposure is to Danish healthcare supplies firm Coloplast, at 2.9%.

Manager Steve Clayton said the firm "leads the market to provide continence care globally".

With regard to the wider portfolio, Clayton said the management team is "still buying" and is keeping the next investments "under wraps a while longer".

He revealed there is "a strong technology tilt to both [the] US holdings and the portfolio as a whole", with internet giants Amazon and Alphabet included in the portfolio for their "dominant positions in huge swathes of the modern economy". 

He added: "We are also backing ServiceNow, a cloud-based IT service provider that we think will grow like topsy.

"Microsoft's Windows and Office software suite are eternal franchises that we see throwing off cash far into the future, and their Azure platform is at the cutting edge of cloud computing, so they're in too."

With regard to healthcare, Clayton noted the fund's preference for "niche healthcare businesses around the world", such as Masimo "which leads the market in measuring patient's blood oxygen levels".

He added: "In financial services, we have chosen not to hold any traditional banks. Instead, we are backing companies serving the vital payments market, such as PayPal and Mastercard. Elsewhere in financials, Charles Schwab is a leading platform for self-directed investors in the USA."