Category: Monthly Update

In July, semiconductor stocks fell sharply as investors reassessed the economics of AI infrastructure spending and the demanding expectations embedded in valuations.

There are legitimate reasons for customers to secure capacity ahead of demand, particularly where power availability, manufacturing capacity and delivery lead times constrain expansion. The risk is that revenues arrive later than expected, fall short of expectations, or both:

Persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, higher bond yields and renewed monetary tightening in the United States created a more challenging investment environment over the September quarter.

Our strategy delivered a second consecutive month of strong performance, returning 2.2% in August.

Global equities advanced modestly in August, returning 0.65% in Australian-dollar terms.

As flagged in our unit holder letter of 14 April 2026 and effective 17 July 2026 we have updated the PDS with enhancements designed to improve the consistency of outcomes across market environments, while maintaining the Fund’s core objective:

Global equities declined 3.19% in New Zealand dollar terms in July, with emerging markets among the weakest-performing regions. Market leadership also became less concentrated during the month,

From this month, you will notice that we are reporting the Fund against its long-term absolute return objective of 8–12% per annum over a full market cycle, rather than expressing the objective relative to any broader market index or benchmark.

The question that matters now The question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will be transformative. It will be. The more important investment question is where sustainable shareholder value will accrue as this technology becomes increasingly embedded across the economy.

The strength of the quarter was undeniable. However, periods of exceptional market performance are also the moments when investors should look beyond what has already happened and ask an even more important question: what comes next?