filmuncher My investments

Looking around for new options …

And might as well sling ’em in here for now. So I have two things to research, I have some money to invest and some tax-free investments to reinvest

I of course want to max out my 20,000 allowance on an IFISA, the options I have are to use Abundance, Energise Africa or Triodos. Annoyingly you have to pick only one option for eveyr tax year, you can’t split the allowance. And right now options are limited, although there’ll be some more offers along soon… Normally they are around 5-7% which is not too shabby.

Otherwise I am searching for options, on platforms such as Ethex, Energy4All and Triodos (they have a sterling bond out later this month).

To check:

2

Tax-free investments:

“Ethical” keyword search gives the following hits on my investment platform (filtered for accumulation) … we’ll see just how ethical they are…

Aegon Ethical Cautious Managed (Class B) Accumulation – MEH

Aegon Ethical Equity (Class B) Accumulation – MEH

AXA IM Ethical Distribution (Class Z) Accumulation

Legal & General Ethical (Class I) Accumulation – MEH

Liontrust UK Ethical (Class 2) Accumulation

Premier Ethical (Class C) Accumulation NOPE, review here

Quilter Ethical (R Class) Accumulation – MEH

Rathbone Ethical Bond (Class I) Accumulation – NOPE, review here

Royal London Ethical Bond (Class M) Accumulation – NOPE,

Troy Trojan Ethical Income (Class X) Accumulation NOPE, review here
Unicorn UK Ethical Income Accumulation – NOPE, review here

Hmmm reviewing the shitness that is Premier, Rathbone and Unicorn makes me dispirited, but this article gives me hope and mentions Liontrust, Trojan and Royal London so I’ll carry on …

Trojan is awful!

Also need to revisit Jupiter Responsible, now done, still need to disinvest

filmuncher Fund Review, My investments

Fund review 2 – Jupiter Responsible Boogaloo

On my new refined methodology, it’s worth revisiting my current investment in Jupiter Responsible just in case it improved from last year.

Well of course because of the crash, it’s back at 2017 levels… but still what i bought for 10 grand is now 15 grand

However, is it ETHICAL??

 At least 70% of the Fund is invested in shares of companies based in the UK that are actively managing their environmental and social impacts or are providing solutions to environmental and social problems. Up to 30% of the Fund may be invested in other assets, including shares of other companies based anywhere in the world, open-ended funds (including funds managed by Jupiter and its associates), cash and near cash.

Hmm

There are specific exclusions within the fund: it cannot invest in any company earning more than 10% of its turnover in activities associated with armaments, tobacco, nuclear power and animal testing.

LOL that’s crap even for negative screening

TOP10

GLAXOSMITHKLINE – NOPE

RELX – “global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.” – PASS

VODAFONE – NOPE

TESCO – NOPE

ASTRAZENECA – NOPE

CRANSWICK – lol it’s the sausage guys! NOPE

SPIRENT COMMS  – multinational telecommunications testing company – YES

AVIVA – HMM let’s say YES

BARCLAYS -NOPE

ORSTED – “We are a renewable energy company that takes tangible action to create a world that runs entirely on green energy.” OH YES VERY NICE

 

VERDICT – NOPE As suspected this fund just doesn’t cut the mustard for me. I need to sell up when I’ve found something better. It wasn’t a bad option 10 years ago, but not now.

And this reminds me I also have money in Jupiter Ecology…

filmuncher Fund Review, My story

My refined methodology

I’ve already set out my view, but I’m done giving funds the benefit of the doubt, now in 2020, funds which profess to be ethical should be ethical otherwise it’s a waste of everybody’s time. For exmaple, fuck these guys: Premier / Rathbone / Unicorn

Negative screening is clearly not enough. I require positive screening PLUS affinity with some if not all of my interests, which are as follows:

  • Is the fund/project local?
  • Does the project support the type of things I am interested in (renewable energy, community projects, social change)
  • Does the project have at least an engagement with sustainability in the sense of both talking about it in the prospectus AND doing something tangible
  • Is it transparent? Can I easily find out the information I want to look at to confirm the other factors?

What this means going forwards is that I will be a lot faster to call the bullshit…

My methodology is to scan the investors documents for ethical criteria, then to measure them against mine. I then check the top10 companies, which is illuminating. If less than 5 are ethical BY MY STANDARDS, I will give a negative verdict. If it’s positive, i will carry on with a context based investigation.

filmuncher Fund Review, Tips

Fund review – Baillie Gifford Positive Change Fund

The Positive Change Fund . After a review in diy investor, who said “For me, the holy grail of investing is a positive return relative to the market for the degree of equity/bond risk combined with a positive contribution towards tackling climate change” I am interested to check it out further.

The Fund will invest at least 90% in shares of companies of any size, any country and in any sector, whose products or behaviour make a positve impact on society and / or the environment in the investment managers opinion

OK so I am listening …

The Fund invests in an actively managed portfolio of 25-50 global high quality growth companies which can deliver positive change in one of four areas: Social Inclusion and Education, Environment and Resource Needs, Healthcare and Quality of Life; and Base of the Pyramid (addressing the needs of the world’s poorest populations).

46% US, 26 % Europe. Hmm let’s see the Top10:

TESLA – cool to see this is number one at 8% – a good choice – YES

DEXCOM – never heard of ’em. ” A company that develops, manufactures, and distributes continuous glucose monitoring systems for diabetes management” – benefit of doubt? no i can’t see much on their website, so NO

M3 – “Providing medical-related services through the use of the Internet” hmm yeah i guess, weak YES

TSMC – semiconductors in Taiwan YES

Illumina – “develops, manufactures, and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function” uh oh sounds scary, what does that means? it means genome sequencing – hmmm PASS

ASML – Dutch, semiconductors YES

MercadoLibre – Hmmm ebay for Latin America … and the “largest online purchasing platform of sustainable products in Latin America” … sustainability report uhhhh PASS

NIBE – “market leader for domestic heating products in the Nordic countries, Poland and the Czech Republic” YES

Kingspan group – Irish building materials company …. the Sustainability and Responsibility Report 2017 (in 2020!?) – a doubtful YES

Moderna – Messenger RNA research – PASS

Well done. Baillie Gifford on my new methodology THIS PASSED!! (JUST)

VERDICT = YES, i will add this to my list of possible investments

Also see this article

filmuncher Fund Review

Fund Review – Premier Ethical (Class C) Accumulation

Premier Ethical (Class C) Accumulation

Disclaimer – This is just my opinion dude

Surprise surprise! It’s another fund with “ethical” in title which fails to deliver on that promise.

The aim of the Fund is to grow the value of your original investment over the long term. The Fund will aim to invest in businesses with ethical, or socially responsible, principles. The Fund has an independent Committee of Reference which meets regularly to discuss research on topical issues relating to the Fund’s ethical criteria.

80% UK holdings.. don’t see much substantial about being ethical ANYWHERE in the supplementary info

LALALA

 

Top 10 holdings

Frontier developments

Hikma pharmaceuticals … —

Games workshop group – is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames

Just Eat – LOL

B&M – retail company

Glaxo Smithkline  – LOL those wel-known ethical people

Dart Group = Jet2 = the third largest airline in the UK – LOL

Sumo Group – creative and development services to the video games and entertainment industries

Boohoo group – online fashion retailer

Sirius – investor in german business parks…

VERDICT – NOPE not good enough

filmuncher Best, ISA Review, My investments, My story

IFISA review: Energise Africa 2020 update

As a 2020 update on Energise Africa, first mentioned here, I am very happy with using them.

The only problem is that the offers go very fast, but why wouldn’t they, the annual interest is 5 to 7. Recently they have been refinancing, so some good deals were to be had but sadly it wasn’t the right time for me. It’s an unregulated investment and you could say that the fact some offers are refinancing indicates weakness but solar for Africa is win-win for me. And the operators are experienced, being Ethex and TU Delft.

Should add my investments here but they’re all much of a muchness, experienced operators doing small-scale solar ventures in Africa.

CURRENT PLAN I will continue to invest, unless Triodos or Abdundance give me a better IFISA option.

filmuncher Tips

responsAbility

Hmm this looks interesting so I’ll post it here, unfortunately it’s not available with my investment service therefore I probably won’t look into it further … seems to be only for Western European mainland investors. Could be good for someone!

https://www.responsability.com/en/first-global-fair-trade-fund-launched

responsAbility is launching the responsAbility Fair Trade Fund, the first investment fund targeting the development potential of small farmers in developing economies. The responsAbility Fair Trade Fund, which was set up in close cooperation with the fund management company Credit Suisse Funds AG and licensed for public distribution in Switzerland by FINMA, provides easy access to a widely diversified and professionally managed portfolio in the agricultural segment. The fund enables investors to gain financial returns while supporting fair trade and improving the lives of small farmers in developing economies.

Bananas, chocolate, coffee – fairly traded products are proving increasingly popular. Most of this agricultural produce comes from small farmers in developing economies. Such farmers often face an array of challenges such as insecure food supply, lack of access to markets, little negotiating power, volatile commodity prices, and depopulation of the countryside. Furthermore, they lack the know-how and financial resources to increase their output and efficiency.

FAIR TRADE OPENS PROSPECTS FOR SMALL FARMERS

A highly positive, market-oriented approach to improving the economic position of small farmers over the years has been fair trade. Its key features are a guaranteed minimum price for produce and what is known as a fair trade premium. The guaranteed minimum price assures a basic subsistence income for small farmers, protects them from fluctuating commodity prices, and enables them to plan with security. Cooperatives play a central role, acting as the link between small farmers and the markets. They handle many vital tasks such as financing, trade, processing, training, and fair trade certification.

FAIR TRADE: A GROWTH MARKET

Growth in demand has been very pleasing, with annual growth rates standing at around 20%. However, growth also increases the need for finance, especially for the cooperatives. Without this working capital, cooperatives and small farmers cannot profit, or can only profit to a limited extent, from the growth in fair trade.

ENABLING GROWTH – PROFITING FROM DEVELOPMENT

This is where the worldwide unique responsAbility Fair Trade Fund, classified as “Other funds for alternative investments” associated with particular risk (“responsAbility Fair Trade Fund”), comes in. The fund provides working capital to agricultural producers and trade organizations (usually cooperatives) to export or prefinance their harvests, for example. To a lesser extent, it also funds the procurement of means of production. Most of its investments are placed in fixed-interest debt securities, issued by cooperatives for terms of up to one year.

The responsAbility Fair Trade Fund has been open for subscription by investors with a medium- to long-term horizon since December 21, 2011. Little correlation with other asset classes and stable returns (historic values) also make this investment fund an ideal means of portfolio diversification.

A Swiss investment fund, the responsAbility Fair Trade Fund is the first of its kind in the world to simplify and professionalize access to fair trade investments for a broad range of investors. Only close cooperation and exceptional commitment by specialists of all parties involved have made this possible. Apart from responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility), Credit Suisse Funds AG and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA played a major role.

Being licensed to sell to the public in Switzerland is very important to responsAbility. Our clients appreciate Switzerland’s security and regulations that serve to protect the investors. The responsAbility Fair Trade Fund is further proof of the innovative strength of our financial center,” explains responsAbility CEO Klaus Tischhauser.

Since its foundation ten years ago, responsAbility has specialized in investment solutions with an emphasis on development. Its investments in developing and emerging economies contribute to positive development in society, while targeting long-term investment returns. responsAbility already boasts a track record of around seven years (USD 125 million invested) in fair trade. It deploys an experienced team and a global network. Since inception in December 2011, the responsAbility Fair Trade Fund has facilitated an additional USD 10 million of finance.

https://www.responsability.com/en/first-global-fair-trade-fund-launched

stolinski Fund Review

Fund Review – Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund

(Review from 2019 plus usual disclaimers apply)

The Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund get off to a bad start by promising “Open and transparent ethical criteria and reporting lines” without providing the ethical criteria.

What companies are in its holdings? amongst others, Rabobank NL, Lloyds Bank, Rothschild Finance, HSBC. I actually refuse to believe these holdings are not funding arms manufacturers. So they pass the negative screening but not my hard ethical stance.

Let’s take HSBC for example:
https://waronwant.org/media/bds-victory-hsbc-divests-elbit
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hsbc-agm-protests-israel-government-arms-companies-investment-war-on-want-a8314396.html
https://theecologist.org/2018/may/21/are-you-funding-fracking-and-nuclear-weapon-manufacturing

Anyway, despite the open and transparent pledge, i can find nothing about their ethical criteria more than a statement about “strict ethical and financial criteria.”

The interim report for the fund goes no further than this, with no mention of screening.
When I emailed them, the quickly replied with a link to the criteria so that was handy. And what are they like? Well a standard negative screening, plus a very vague positive screening. T

To qualify for inclusion in the fund’s universe, issuers should demonstrate progressive or well-developed practice or policies in one of the following key areas:

    • Corporate community investment
    • Employment
    • Human rights

Management of environmental impacts

2020 UPDATE

EMAILED rutm@rathbones.com about requested page “/downloads/fund-related/ethical-screening-criteria-1-2016_3554.pdf” could not be found.

VERDICT= NOPE not good enough