Old hands Butler and Goodwin have achieved their aim over the past five years in setting out to debunk a number of commonly-held assumptions about the global resources world
In the eyes of many investors, the global resources sector is one characterised by volatile returns, a narrow investment universe and stocks that are closely correlated to commodities prices.
But the managers of Martin Currie's long-running ARF Global Resources Fund have deliberately set out to construct a fund that contradicts those long-held assumptions about this diverse and highly cyclical sector, a universe that comprises some 800 stocks.
The fund's returns bear out the benefits of the firm's approach. The long/short equity strategy has delivered an annualised return of 12% since its launch in October 2003, with annualised volatility of just over 10%. This compares to a market return of 14.8% over the same period, but with far higher volatility of 22.3%....