Global Balanced Income Fund

The Fund seeks to provide stable, long-term capital appreciation by investing in a diversified portfolio of local and international bonds, equities and other income-generating assets. The Investment Manager shall diversify the assets of the Fund among different assets classes. The manager may invest in both Investment Grade and High Yield bonds rated at the time of investment at least “B-” by S&P, or in bonds determined to be of comparable quality, provided that the Fund may invest up 10% in non- rated bonds, whilst maintain an exposure to direct rated bonds of at least 25% of the value of the Fund. Investments in equities may include but are not limited to dividend-paying securities, equities, exchange traded funds as well as through the use of Collective Investment Schemes.

The Fund is actively managed, not managed by reference to any index.

The Fund is classified under Article 6 of the SFDR meaning that the investments underlying this financial product do not take into account the EU criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities.

The Investment Manager of the CC High Income Bond Funds – EUR and USD has the duty to ensure that the underlying investments of the funds are well diversified. According to the prospectus, the investment manager has to abide by a number of investment restrictions to safeguard the value of the assets

• We shall invest primarily in a diversified portfolio of listed transferable securities across a wide spectrum of industries and sectors primarily via bonds, equities and eligible ETFs. We may invest in these asset classes either directly or indirectly through UCITS Funds and/ or eligible non UCITS Funds
• We intend to diversify the assets of the Sub-Fund broadly among countries, industries and sectors, but reserve the right to invest a substantial portion of the Sub-Fund’s assets in one or more countries (or regions) if economic and business conditions warrant such investments
• Investments in equity securities may include, but are not limited to, dividend-paying securities, equities, ETFs and preferred shares of global issuers. At our discretion, we may also invest indirectly in equities and equity-related instruments through the use of collective investment schemes. The Sub-Fund will generally, but not exclusively, invest in blue chip issuers listed on Approved Regulated Markets, including equities listed on the Malta Stock Exchange, where applicable
• We shall manage the credit risk and will aim to manage interest rate risk through credit analysis and credit diversity. We may invest in both investment grade (corporate and sovereign) and high yield bonds that have a credit rating of at least “B-” by S&P (or rating equivalent issued by other reputable rating agencies) at the time of investment, provided that the Sub-Fund may invest a maximum of 10% of its assets in non-rated debt securities, including those listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. We will, at all times, maintain an exposure to direct rated bonds, whether investment grade or high yield, of at least 25% of the value of the Sub-Fund
• For temporary or defensive purposes, the Sub-Fund may invest in short-term fixed income instruments, money market funds, cash and cash equivalents. The Sub-Fund may also hold cash and cash equivalents on an ancillary basis or cash management purposes, pending investment in accordance with its Investment Policy and to meet operating expenses and redemption requests.The Sub-Fund may invest in Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”) via UCITS-eligible ETFs and/or CIS and securities related to real assets (including but not limited to real estate, agriculture, and precious metals-related securities) such as equities, bonds, and ETFs as well as CISs as long as these constitute eligible assets under the UCITS Directive
• The Sub-Fund may invest in options, futures and forwards for risk management and hedging purposes only (“Hedging Instruments”)
• Other than any margins required for these Hedging Instruments, the Sub-Fund will not employ leverage

April 2023

Introduction

April brought more calm into markets as earnings season expectations managed to divert the attention focused recently on US banks. This did not equate with the recent turmoil when First Republic Bank ended up being purchased by JP Morgan. Clearly the stress has been insulated within the smaller regional banks as these are more suspicious to losing deposits and consequently higher future funding costs. Major banks as well as the other corporates have been protected by an earnings season, being not impressive, but clearly better than what was feared. Whether this is the last shine from the corporate sector before an economic slowdown remains to be seen, but for the time being market participants still show faith in equity markets. The real economy remained on a strong foothold in developed markets, although some GDP numbers for the first quarter of the year have disappointed. The Chinese economy rebound continued to be subdued while there is a clear U-turn on behalf of Communist authorities as regards the attitude towards private capital. Energy prices have continued their recent down trend which spreads confusion regarding where the global economy is heading. Overall it feels like a no man’s land in terms of macro fundamentals whereby optimism equates with an economic soft landing or a shallow recession. Market opinion is clearly divided in this regard and consequently markets remain jittery.

From the monetary front, monetary authorities have not changed tack in terms of market signalling, as FED and the ECB continued pointing out to increasing rate hikes expected for the near future. Although inflation pressures have recently abated and the trend clearly points downward monthly core levels still remain elevated for central bankers’ taste, therefore market participants hints toward expectations on fast-approaching monetary easing measures continue looking far-fetched. It is rather the credit tightening from financial institutions which became recently apparent which is expected to do the trick in terms of cooling off labour markets and services pricing pressures.

Equity markets are still evolving in a world of their own whereby on very thin breath market indexes continued trending marginally higher. Mega caps were the main growth drivers for markets year to date on both sides of the Atlantic and as such these have gotten even bigger weight in indexes, which distorts the overall market’s performance. Speaking of mega caps’ earnings, although managing to beat market expectations, on a nominal basis most of them do show decreasing profits compared to last year, which make current valuations looking even more expensive than at the height of the covid19 pandemic rally in 2021. In the banking sector, one significant change is European institutions outperforming their US peers, which in itself is a novelty for the post-GCF world. This is but one of the many twists 2023 has brought up front, which makes it one of the most challenging years for asset managers worldwide.

Market Environment and Performance

Forward looking indicators expanded in Europe at the fastest pace in 11 months, driven solely by the services sector. Euro-area manufacturing PMI reading (45.8 v a previous month of 47.3) remained in contractionary territory, while the services PMI (reading 56.2 v previous reading of 55.0) advanced, with Italy and Spain being the main drivers, aided by the tourism industry and the travel boom. Inflationary pressures have disappointed validating the hawkish ECB stance, as core inflation which excludes transitory or temporary price volatility edged marginally lower in April to 5.6% from 5.7% level in the previous month.

In the U.S. aggregate business activity continue to rebound for a third consecutive month. Notably, composite PMI rose sharply from March’s reading (to 53.4 from 52.3) following a solid upturn in private sector business activity. Manufacturing PMI (reading of 50.2) pointed to a first marginal expansion in factory activity. Services PMI reading increased to 53.6 from 52.6 last month, the biggest expansion in service output in a year. Annual inflation rate in the US slowed to 4.9%, well down from its 9.1% peak in June 2022. Month-on-month, core consumer prices remained stable.

Equity markets had a balanced performance during the month torn between the corporate earnings which overall managed to exceed expectations and the macro indicators which continued showing an economic growth slowdown. Marginal signs of sector rotation from growth to value have been seen pointing to a certain uneasiness form market participant as regards the sustainability of the year to date market rally. US markets edged higher helped by resilient earnings from mega caps and still healthy labour markets and consumer sentiment. Their European peers continued their unexpected good performance as the economy continues outperforming analysts’ expectations, while emerging markets were conditioned by the less than impressive recovery in the Chinese

economy. The S&P 500 index gained 1.75% helped by strong earnings reports from major components of the index, such as Microsoft and Alphabet. In Europe, the EuroStoxx50 and the DAX gained 1.72% and 2.58% respectively, driven by strong first quarter sales reports and yearly dividend payouts approaching.

The fixed-income asset class continues to be highly conditioned by the pronounced higher rates which continued to trigger remarkable volatility. European and US investment grade posted positive returns, returning c. 0.69% and 0.82% respectively. The more speculative segment too headed higher.

Fund performance

In the month of April, the CC Global Balanced Income Fund – largely driven by the somewhat upbeat sentiment across both equity and high yield credit – headed higher, registering a gain of 1.25%, offsetting the losses witnessed in the previous month.

Within the fixed income space, the Manager over the month continued to monitor opportunities which relatively offered value and may arise as a result of the recent widening in spreads. From the equity front, the Manager took opportunity from the recent retracement witnessed across equity markets. Names which the fund increased its exposure to include; Mercedes Benz, Booking Holdings, Cisco Systems, and Broadcom.

Market and investment outlook

Going forward, the Manager is of the view that material decreases in inflation levels globally and the messaging tone from central bankers do point to a fast approaching end of the monetary tightening cycle. From a credit point the Manger believes that the current underlying fixed income exposures within the fund reflect the long-term view and thus the recent volatility is a short-term pain rather than long term. Contrary the Manager believes that a recovery pace is in course as experienced in the initial days of May.

From the equity front, the Manager believes that the gap between fundamentals and equity markets continues to widen as we see the same changing sentiment towards a more bullish stance. Although this comes at odds with its own convictions, the Manager is slowly building a more benevolent approach on equity returns expectations, although coming from a very low base. The same attitude of higher focus to cyclical sectors should be expected while cash levels are deemed appropriate at the prevailing market valuation metrics.