What would make you change your mind about a company?
On the impact side, it would be if a company’s positive intentions changed, if it was not delivering the impact we expected or if part of the business began to generate negative impact. On the investment side, it would be if our investment thesis for the company did not pan out as expected, or if the company’s shares became unjustifiably expensive.
Is the universe of impact stocks likely to expand?
We believe it will grow significantly. Having run a model portfolio for a year before the fund officially launched in November, we have seen that this is already the case.
Of course, for listed equities, it remains challenging to measure impact. On the surface it is tough to say which companies are the most impactful and that is why we have to have such rigorous internal analysis and discussion. There may be two companies in very different sectors, with very different types of impact, and we have to find a meaningful way to compare them.
At the same time, we have a responsibility to create a financial return, so we have to look at a company’s business model and whether it is run by a good management team with integrity. It is complex work and it takes a lot of research, including meeting management teams, to ensure we are making sound investment decisions.
The value of investments and the income from them will rise and fall. This will cause the fund price, as well as any income paid by the fund, to fall as well as rise. There is no guarantee the fund will achieve its objective and investors may not get back the amount they originally invested.
The fund invests mainly in company shares and is therefore likely to experience larger price fluctuations than funds that invest in bonds and/or cash.
Changes in currency exchange rates will affect the value of investments.
About John William Olsen, M&G Investments
About John William Olsen, John William Olsen, a Danish national, joined M&G in April 2014, and was appointed fund manager of the M&G Global Select Fund and M&G Pan European Select Fund in July 2014. He was later appointed deputy manager of the M&G Pan European Select Smaller Companies Fund in July 2016 and the M&G Positive Impact Fund in November 2018. John William joined M&G from Danske Capital, where from 2002 he had managed non-domestic equity portfolios, including the Global Stock Picking and Global Select equity funds, and also the European Select strategy. He joined Danske Capital in 1998 as a fund manager on the domestic Danish equities team, and in 2000 also became a global sector analyst focusing on technology and telecommunications stocks. John William gained a BA in business economics and then an MSc in finance and accounting from Copenhagen Business School.
