Speaker 0:
for an introduction to the Premier Marin Emerging Market Sustainable Fund. I'm joined now by co managers Fiona Manning and William Skulls. Fiona, um, tell us a little bit about the investment philosophy behind this fund. What's the objective?

Speaker 0:
So the formal objective, like like many funds, is to deliver long term capital Appreciation. Um, in this case, through the investment in emerging markets. Um, but we do have a second, equally important purpose for the fund if you like, which is to deliver on sustainable, positive environmental and social outcomes.

Speaker 1:
And in terms of investment philosophy, we're looking for companies that are sustainable in the broader sense. So, um, financially in what they do and how they do it. And we think the way to achieve that is to look for companies that have three common attributes, really. And I'm wavering, focus on innovation and and being really close to their customers really understanding their customer needs, um, companies that are, um, incredibly efficient and have a focus on reinvestment in operational efficiency.

Speaker 1:
Uh, and then finally, uh, companies that that make careful use of both their own and their community resources so manage their impact on the world around them. And can you

Speaker 0:
dig a little deeper into how you go about selecting stocks?

Speaker 1:
Yeah. So we're looking for really high quality, financially sustainable companies. And to help us do that, we developed a, uh, a proprietary quantitative screen that takes a a wide range of financial metrics. Um uh, really, to try and sign post companies that are the most financially sustainable and what we're looking for, there is the

Speaker 1:
the top two quintile. So the best 40% of of the universe and we keep that universe as wide as we can. So, emerging markets, frontier markets, small caps, large caps and then even developed market stocks that have a majority of of revenue or profits coming from emerging markets.

Speaker 0:
When we're digging into to the companies and and undertaking the the all important process of of fundamental research, what we're looking for is to answer three key questions. So the first of those is is what a company does sustainable. So we're looking for companies that have products and services that

Speaker 0:
address an unmet need that is aligned with the UN sustainable development goals. Secondly, we're looking to understand if if how the company operates is sustainable. So thinking about the material e S G risks that the company faces and thinking about how the company manages those appropriately.

Speaker 0:
And then finally, we're looking to really dig into and understand the ability of the company to deliver a long term financial outperform. Sustainable return profile is, is, is what we're looking for. But what makes this fund different to its peers?

Speaker 0:
Well, surprisingly, considering that frontier and emerging markets are really front and centre when you think about the positive impact of making progress towards the UN sustainable development goals, there are relatively few strategies that look to combine that dual aim of delivering financial performance whilst achieving those positive social and

Speaker 0:
environmental outcomes. I think the second aspect is that we have real discipline and rigour in the investment process, both in terms of thinking about the financial outcomes, as we mentioned, but also in terms of making sure that we have very clear focus on that sustainable piece as well, and that's fully integrated into the research process.

Speaker 1:
And if I can add to that the

Speaker 1:
the integration of that into the research process, um, it is, uh, means that we are thinking about the sustainable, um, alignment not only for driving the non financial return, but also, um, actually as part and parcel of a risk mitigation, uh, from the financial return perspective that is being

Speaker 1:
in alignment with areas of priority spending puts you in line for growth areas, areas of investment growth. But it's also potentially a shield in terms of tax and regulation. It's ensuring that companies are are really investing in alignment with, uh, with with governments. And we think that's a great place to be.

Speaker 0:
We have to leave it there. William Skulls. Fiona Manning. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.