The strategy of the Fund is to invest in a diversified portfolio of thematic real assets. The Fund’s 21 investments are set to benefit from four socio-economic mega trends: ageing population (15.2% portfolio weight), digitalisation (28.5%), generation rent (15.4%), and urbanisation (11.7%). It will also invest in REITs with assets that encompass more than one of these trends (25.8%).

Within each mega trend, the Fund Manager undertakes fundamental research to identify the most attractive investment opportunities. Combining top-down analysis of socio-economic mega trends with bottom-up fundamental research has yielded good results for the Fund.

Over the course of April 2026, the NAV of the Fund increased by 3.6% (A Acc GBP), underperforming the UK real estate index* which increased by 6.7%. Over the past twelve months, the Fund has decreased by 4.3% (A Acc GBP). Since its launch, the Fund has decreased by 2.8% (A Acc GBP), outperforming the UK real estate index* which has fallen by 19.7%.

Markets rebounded in April, with U.S. equity markets staging a powerful resurgence, despite an increasingly complex geopolitical backdrop. Despite this, tensions between the US and Iran continued to dominate headlines as disruptions continued in the Strait of Hormuz and Brent crude was pushing above $110 per barrel by month-end. Intermittent ceasefire efforts and diplomatic overtures continued to break down. Meanwhile global equities rallied, driven primarily by a rotation back into AI stocks, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting all-time highs. UK 10-year gilt yields increased by 10 basis points in April to 5.01% due to inflation persistence and policy uncertainty on the back of higher energy prices. Increased caution from the Bank of England due to renewed inflation concerns has caused markets to price further rate hikes for this year.

All mega trends delivered positive returns in April. Digitalisation performed the strongest, up 8.0%, followed by urbanisation, which was up 6.4%. Ageing population, multi-theme assets and generation rent were up 3.6%, 2.4% and 1.2% respectively.

It was a good month for London office landlords Derwent (portfolio weight 2.5%) and GPE (portfolio weight 2.4%), with both benefiting from an increase in demand from AI-related tenants for prime space. Earlier this year Derwent announced that it had pre let all its office space (almost 140,000 square feet) at Network in Fitzrovia to Databricks, a leading data and AI platform for enterprises. Similarly, in a recent trading update for its financial year ending in March, GPE announced that “AI-related customers” now represent 12% of its total office portfolio (or 25% of its ‘Fully Managed’ offices). In the same update GPE’s CEO, Toby Courtauld, said , “Looking forward, we have further leasing under offer and a strong pipeline of new space in production, and so we start the new financial year with positive momentum”.

The Investment Manager added Whitbread (portfolio weight 2.5%) to the portfolio in January. Unlike most hotel businesses, Whitbread operates a vertically integrated business model. It is the owner of Premier Inn, the UK’s largest hotel brand with more than 10% market share, as well as a large portfolio of freehold properties. The second point is crucial, as owning its real estate makes Whitbread more resilient through business cycles than its peers , most of which operate asset-light business models. 

In April, Whitbread announced its full-year results, with profit before tax unchanged at £483 million and a total of £419 million returned to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks. Alongside this, and partly in response to recent changes to employment costs and business rates in the UK, Whitbread’s management updated their five-year plan to return £2 billion to shareholders. Commenting on the update, CEO Dominic Paul said , “We’ve already made great progress in the transformation of Whitbread, despite external headwinds, and I’m excited by what’s coming next. This plan will transform Whitbread into a higher-margin, higher-returning pure-play hotel business. We’re going to go further and faster to deliver a great experience for our guests and high-quality growth and returns for our shareholders”.

Overall, the Fund Manager remains optimistic about the Fund’s performance with the strong underlying performance of portfolio assets and confidence in the mega trends, alongside continued M&A activity. Investors should look to the attractive, growing dividend yield and the potential for further upside, with the Fund continuing to invest in defensive, domestic and dependable assets. While growth concerns continue to impact capital markets, the four socio-economic mega trends - ageing population, digitalisation, generation rent and urbanisation - are
set to gain.

*MSCI UK IMI Core Real Estate Net Total Return GBP.