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 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

December 2022

Introduction

2022, a year – possibly like no other in recent market history – was characterised by economic uncertainty and significant market volatility.

Geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe and central banks’ battle against inflationary pressures, took centre stage, proving to be the main sources of market struggles. Indeed, equity and credit markets felt the pinch, ending the year substantially negative, notwithstanding some relief witnessed in the final quarter of the year as market participants clinched to the idea that inflation may have possibly peaked, paving the way for the pace of interest rate rises to slow. Also, in China strict coronavirus restrictions – a major dampener on domestic demand – were in the final quarter eased, re-igniting hopes that the country is incrementally heading towards the end of its zero-Covid policy. Such news was positively digested, alleviating overall market sentiment.

Market Environment and Performance

Forward looking indicators, namely PMIs continued to paint a somewhat gloomy landscape, noting a deterioration – albeit at a softer pace in both manufacturing and service segments – in the rate of growth. Manufacturing (reading 47.8 v a previous month reading of 47.1) remained in contractionary territory despite inflationary pressures easing and supply chains showing signs of stabilizing. Services (reading 49.8 v a preliminary estimate of 49.1 and previous month reading of 48.5) showed signs of improvement, albeit pointing to a fifth successive drop. In December, inflationary pressures continued to show signs of easing, with major economies in the euro Area witnessing a decline in pricing pressures, preliminary estimates showed. Notably, Germany saw headline inflation falling to 8.6 from 9.1%. Largely, inflation in the Euro area, dropped to 9.2 from 10.1%. Core inflation edged higher to 5.2%.

Aggregate business activity in the US pointed to a continued solid contraction across the private sector. Notably, composite PMI reading in December fell to 44.6 from November’s 46.4, driven by worsening conditions in both manufacturing and service sectors. Manufacturing PMI (reading 46.2) pointed to the biggest contraction in factory activity since May 2020. Output fell at a solid pace while new orders fell at one of the fastest rates ever as companies noted weaker client demand, stemming from economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures leading to lower purchasing power among customers. Meanwhile, services slumped to 44.4 in December from 46.2 in the previous month.

Annual inflation rate in the US, for a sixth successive month, slowed to 6.5% – in line with market forecasts of 6.6%. Month-on-month, consumer prices were down 0.1%. From the employment front, data continued to somewhat point to a tight labour market, with incoming data proving largely mixed. Non-farm payrolls print showed that 223k jobs were created in December compared to market expectations of 200k, wage growth came in below expectations while unemployment rate fell to 3.5 from 3.7%. Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate edged higher to 62.3 from 62.2% in the previous month.

Looking at December’s equity moves, for the second time this year investors’ elusive hope for a more accommodative monetary policy on the back of economic softness, has been dismissed by the FED focus on the long-term inflationary pressures. Surprisingly US equities have again strongly underperformed European markets as the US dollar depreciation continued. European markets had a floor on their negative performance as investors hoped that diminishing gas prices caused by the warm weather will help the region avoiding a hard recession in 2023. Emerging markets also outperformed US as the opening up of the Chinese economy following the zero covid policy termination has given a new life line to the local stock market. The S&P 500 index fall by 9.38% as all sectors finished the month in negative territory led by technology and consumer discretionary. In Europe, the EuroStoxx50 and the DAX lost 4.32% and 3.29% respectively, with the financial sector being again the main performer following expectations of ECB rising rates further.

From a fixed-income point of view, December saw the upward trend partially paused, as the pace witnessed during the final quarter of 2022, slowed. Indeed, global high yield indices edged marginally lower, a loss of c. 0.10%. For the full year, global high yield credit saw losses amounting to 11.84%. Government and Investment Grade bonds were also the prime losers for 2022 on the back on remarkable upward shifts in benchmark yields.

Fund performance

In the month of December, the CC Global Balanced Income Fund, driven by the largely negative performance across both equity and credit markets, headed lower, registering a loss of 2.93%. Albeit such negative performance for the last month of the year, the outperformance against the funds comparable benchmark which have on a year-to-date basis been triggered by the conservative strategy employed, through elevated cash levels and reducing cyclicality of the fund, was maintained.

Market and investment outlook

Going forward, the Manager is of the believe that persistent high interest rates coupled with inflation stickiness will further deteriorate the economic landscape going forward, potentially pushing the global economy on the brink of recession. From a credit point the Manger believe that rates are at or approaching peaks and in this regard, expectations are now more downward trending. Thus, possible tweaks in terms of duration are plausible.

Looking at equities, return expectations remain depressed, however a continuing of the current US dollar depreciation trend might start differentiating expectations between various geographies. In conclusion, the Manager remains faithful to its cautious approach, favouring defensive sectors and elevated cash levels. However, the Manager is weighing the change in market dynamics following the China re-opening which is surely a positive for the global economy. Thus, expectations of sectorial re-positioning in the coming days is highly probable.