Artemis Global Income: a new bestseller

One of the bestselling funds on Fidelity Personal Investing in July and August was Artemis Global Income, which takes a contrarian approach to the markets. After a couple of lacklustre years, it has had an amazing eighteen months that has attracted the attention of savvy investors¹.

There are lots of reasons why it is worth considering, including the fact that it’s a great diversifier. Its value-tilted exposure would work well alongside most other holdings, especially if you have a large weighting in the US or the mega cap tech stocks, as the fund is very different to the index and its peer group².

The reason for this is that lead manager Jacob de Tusch-Lec invests in undervalued dividend-paying companies, many of which are in the mid-cap space. The holdings are classified into three categories: core income, dividend growth, or risk/special situations, with the allocation based on top-down economic analysis and valuations³.

Objective and approach

Artemis Global Income aims to grow both income and capital over a five-year period by investing in dividend-paying stocks from around the world. The managers look at the underlying fundamentals to identify companies that they think will generate strong profits and grow their dividends over time⁴.

They favour stocks that exhibit high levels of free cashflow generation, dividend distribution and dividend growth. This gives it a firm value-tilt and makes it a good complimentary holding to a more growth-oriented fund⁵.

The portfolio typically contains around 60-80 holdings, selected from an investible universe of over 8,000 shares. Most tend to be lesser-known medium-sized companies (typically valued at £500 million and above), which is different to the majority of global equity funds that mainly focus on the mega caps⁶.

The underlying portfolio

At the end of August, the top ten holdings made up 26.4% of the assets and didn’t include any of the high-profile tech companies, with the most familiar names being Chevron and Mitsubishi. This was reflected in the sector split, with Financials and Industrials accounting for 57.6% of the fund and Information Technology just 4.3%⁷.

Artemis Global Income top 10 holdings

1. Simon Property Group
2. Chevron
3. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
4. Hanwha Techwin
5. Banco Popolare
6. Hon Hai Precision
7. Kinross Gold
8. People’s Insurance
9. Freeport-McMoRan
10. Texas Instruments

Source: Artemis Global Income factsheet, 31 August 2025

The regional allocation was also interesting with the largest exposure being the US at 33.4%, which was about half of the weighting in the benchmark. It was Europe ex UK and the Emerging Markets that made up the majority of the fund, as together they represented 47.1% of the assets⁸.

Artemis Global Income has less than a 5% overlap with the benchmark, because the manager concentrates on what he thinks are the best opportunities. After more than a decade of US outperformance, the country is now heavily underweighted and there is no exposure to the magnificent seven tech stocks because of the focus on income⁹.

• Read: How to prepare for an AI stock market tumble

Impressive performance

In the 12 months to the end of August the fund achieved a remarkable cumulative return of 39.1%, which was well ahead of its MSCI AC World benchmark and Global Equity Income peer group with figures of 12.6% and 9.3% respectively. Not surprisingly this meant that it was ranked best in its sector¹⁰. Please remember past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

The long-term record is even more impressive, with a cumulative return since the launch in July 2010 of 563.9% versus 409.8% and 292.6% for its index and peers. This staggering outperformance was more than enough to give it top spot¹¹.

In the last couple of years, the fund has benefitted from its large exposure to financials that have been helped by the increase in interest rates that has boosted their margins. It has also profited from power stocks that have achieved healthy earnings on the back of higher government spending on energy transmission¹².

What are the managers’ latest views?

Writing in the quarterly update covering the period to the end of June, the managers said that long-dated bonds have sold off around the world as governments increase spending¹³.

“We find ourselves in a new regime that is entirely different to the post-Global Financial Crisis era, characterised by uncertainty and volatility. Yet we continue to believe that the portfolio is appropriately positioned for this new world¹⁴.”

“We are highly contrarian and our portfolio looks very different from both our benchmark and our peers. The portfolio is cheaper than the benchmark, with almost double the dividend yield. These value characteristics give us a degree of comfort¹⁵.”

Income and costs

The fund targets capital and income growth and currently has an historic yield of 2.6%¹⁶, although this is increasing quickly. Since inception in July 2010 the annual dividend has grown by an average of 8% per annum¹⁷.

The ongoing charges figure is 0.84%¹⁸. This is towards the high side for the sector so the manager will need to justify the extra fees by way of decent performance.

• More on Artemis Global Income

Source:

^{1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18} Artemis Funds, factsheet as at 31.8.25
^{2,3, 9, 12} FT Advisor, 1.8.25
^{4, 5, 6, 16} Artemis Funds, September 2025
^{13, 14, 15, 17} Artemis Funds, quarterly update to 30.6.25

Important information - investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. Overseas investments will be affected by movements in currency exchange rates. Investments in emerging markets can be more volatile than other more developed markets. Reference to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities and is included for the purposes of illustration only. The Artemis Global Income Fund uses financial derivative instruments for investment purposes, which may expose the fund to a higher degree of risk and can cause investments to experience larger than average price fluctuations. This fund takes its annual management charge and expenses from your capital and not from the income generated by the fund. This means that any capital growth in the fund will be reduced by the charge. Your capital may reduce over time if the fund’s growth does not compensate for it. This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice.