Gartmore Global Focus Fund posits alternatives to heavily taxed gas guzzlers

While Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, maintained his capacity to surprise in his 11th budget with a cut in income tax, some of his other proposals had been widely flagged in advance. In what will probably be Brown’s final budget, the owners of fuel-hungry cars, notably the so-called ‘Chelsea tractors,’ were hit by a near doubling of road taxes, as the Chancellor continued to target transport's contribution to carbon emissions. The top band of vehicle excise duty, comprising the least fuel-efficient vehicles on UK roads, will rise from £210 to £300 immediately and will reach £400 next year.

Among the stocks held by the Gartmore Global Focus Fund, managed by Neil Rogan, is Toyota and its prescient inclusion reflects ‘leveraging the global information advantage,’ according to Neil, “This is the process whereby global managers identify and allocate capital proactively across themes. While the outlook for car stocks may generally be mixed, there are other factors that come into play in stock selection, including environmental considerations and their capacity to have a future impact on share prices. Toyota, for instance, has much to commend it. The 2009 Toyota Prius will do 100 miles per gallon and has emissions below the new European Union standards.”

Gartmore’s Global Fund receives Lipper Award second year running

We are pleased to announce that the Gartmore Worldwide Leaders Fund is the winner, for the second year running, of the Lipper Fund Awards US 2007, Global Large Cap Core Fund Award, based on 3-year fund performance.

This award recognises the continued success of Gartmore's global equity investment process based on a high alpha strategy which is unconstrained by formal benchmarks. This allows the managers to actively manage and select only their best ideas with the Fund typically holding 30-40 stocks. The Fund, which is sold to US investors, is managed by Citywire AA - rated Neil Rogan, Head of Global Equities along with Senior Investment Managers Ben Walker and Brian O'Neill. It is a clone of the fund available to UK investors, the Gartmore Global Focus Fund which is AAA rated by Standard & Poor's.

The Lipper Fund Awards is a global programme that rewards funds that have delivered consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers.