The Fund rose 1.05% in February, ahead of its performance comparator of cash (as measured by the Bank of England’s Sterling Overnight Index Average (“SONIA”)) + 5%, which rose by 0.38%.

The UK stock market, as measured by the FTSE 100 Index, ended the month in positive territory, although well below its mid-month high. The Fund show a similar pattern, being up 4.65% at the end of the first fortnight, before giving up some of these returns. Despite this pull back, the Fund still ended the month with a positive return.

None of the existing strategies passed an observation point during February so there were no maturities during the month. One new strategy was added, however, giving a potential maturity within the portfolio during February in future years.

This gilt collateralised OTC strategy is linked to a new underlying index for the Fund, the FTSE Custom 100 Synthetic 3.5% Fixed Dividend Index (CSDI). Whilst similar to the FTSE 100 Index, this new index removes the variability of the future dividends from the calculations for the investment banks, which can potentially lead to higher coupons. However, due to the fixed nature of the dividend, it will lag FTSE 100 slightly if the FTSE 100 dividends are less than 3.5% pa.