Strong momentum for Munro climate change theme
Munro has initiated a new theme of climate change in its Global Growth portfolio as it believes the sector has become even more important since COVID-19.
In a webcast, chief investment officer, Nick Griffin, said the climate change theme was sub-divided into four sectors; clean energy, batteries, building efficiency, and packaging, water and waste.
“Climate change is a new theme in the portfolio, it has become even more important in the COVID era and we see it accelerating from hereon. We have six climate-focused companies, it is a growing area and there are opportunities in some smaller companies,” Griffin said.
Griffin likened it to the early stages of the technology boom with climate change companies expected to “get dramatically bigger” in the future. Wind turbine firm Vestas had already been one of the best contributors to performance in September.
“Momentum is stronger than it has ever been, it is important for companies and stakeholders. We are at the start of the big theme, more and more companies [in this sector] are going to get dramatically bigger,” he said.
“In Europe, they are targeting zero carbon by 2050 which means they will produce no CO2. We don’t know if they will reach that target by 2050 but we still see a €7 trillion ($11 trillion) opportunity. This is an area where money could be spent in areas such as renewables, energy efficiencies and charging stations for electric vehicles.”
Other themes in the fund included digital payments, digital enterprise, e-commerce and innovative health.
According to FE Analytics, within the Australian Core Strategies universe, the Munro Global Growth fund returned 37% over one year to 30 September versus returns of 3.6% by the global equity sector.
Recommended for you
Insignia Financial has reported net inflows of $448 million into its asset management division in the latest quarter, as well as popularity from advisers for its MLC managed accounts.
With ASIC questioning the dominance of research houses when it comes to retail usage of private market funds, a research house has shared how its ranking process sits alongside ASIC’s priorities.
Two Australian active fund managers have been singled out by Morningstar for their ability to achieve consistent performance and share price growth in the past 12 months.
Pinnacle Investment Management has expanded its private market coverage, forging a strategic partnership with a private markets manager via a 13 per cent stake acquisition.

