Liontrust Sustainable Investment Annual Review 2023 - Flipbook - Page 3
Introduction
After the turmoil of recent years, investors were hoping for a calmer
2023. Yet while less dramatic in many ways, it was still a volatile
year, with sentiment swinging as the macroeconomic picture
changed, in particular over whether interest rates would see sharp
cuts in 2024 or stay ‘higher for longer’.
Despite this, 2023 was broadly very positive for the Sustainable
Future (SF) strategies.
Standout in this regard were our Fixed Income strategies, especially
our Sustainable Future Corporate Bond Fund and the SF Monthly
Income Bond Fund, while the Sustainable Future Managed range
was also strong. All these funds were ahead of their peer groups,
as was the SF Global Growth Fund. In the UK and Europe, returns
were more muted over the year, but a standout final quarter
substantially improved the picture.
Since we launched our SF funds in 2001, our proposition to clients
has been to deliver superior returns by investing in sustainable
companies – those companies that are making our world cleaner,
healthier and safer. We believe these businesses have better
growth and greater resilience than the market anticipates. In
addition, by allocating capital to these businesses and engaging
with management, we can accelerate environmental and societal
improvements.
This confidence comes from the strong foundations of our 22
sustainable investment themes, which we believe identify the
strongest and most dependable growth trends in the economy. We
only invest in those companies that combine alignment with our
themes and strong financial and share price prospects.
In this report, we highlight some of these themes including those
we believe are and will continue to be key in driving forward the
changes needed for the world to achieve net zero.
While the news is often dominated by wars, climate change and
general pessimism, we believe the economy is becoming more
sustainable and much of the inevitable progress will be delivered
by the companies we invest in.
As we discuss on page 7 onwards, there are encouraging trends in
a number of areas. For example, the UK leads the way on cutting
carbon emissions, having achieved a 48% reduction since 1990.
In the same period, the UK economy grew by 52%.
We look forward to a good year ahead and believe we
are in a strong position to take advantage of the longterm trends that will drive growth for sustainable
companies.
Peter Michaelis, Head of Sustainable Investment
at Liontrust
For more information on Sustainable
Investment plus our funds and team, go to
www.liontrust.co.uk/sustainable
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