Fidelity Emerging Markets Ltd: well-placed to weather the storm

The long-term repercussions of the conflict in the Middle East remain unclear, with the resulting uncertainty affecting many parts of the global economy. One of the regions most directly impacted is the emerging markets (EM), which includes both major oil importers and exporters.

Emerging markets benefit from important structural tailwinds, including good fiscal discipline, a key role in the global AI supply chain, and a weaker US dollar that a lot of economies rely on for funding. However, the recent disruption to oil prices has raised concerns about inflation and interest rates.¹

It is likely that some investors operating in the area will weather the storm better than others. A possible example is the Fidelity Emerging Markets investment trust, which is an unusual fund where returns are primarily driven by the managers’ stock selection decisions.

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Objective and approach

Fidelity Emerging Markets aims to achieve long-term capital growth from a portfolio of listed and unlisted emerging market equities. Managers Nick Price and Chris Tennant adopt a highly active, unconstrained approach and make full use of the investment trust structure to access opportunities across the market cap spectrum.²

The portfolio is built on a bottom-up, fundamentals-driven basis, focusing on quality businesses with strong balance sheets, consistent returns and reasonable valuations. It bears little resemblance to the benchmark, with the sector and country exposures determined by the stock selection decisions.³

Price and Tennant are supported by Fidelity’s extensive emerging markets team, which consists of around 50 investment professionals located in key regional hubs. Unlike many investment trusts, they are able to use derivatives to combine long positions in structurally advantaged companies with selective short positions in weaker stocks where share prices are likely to fall.⁴

The underlying portfolio

At the end of February, the largest holdings included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung Electronics, both of which have benefitted from strong demand for AI chips from the US tech sector. There were also overweight positions in a range of mining companies that have profited from rising commodity prices.⁵

The key sector weightings were Information Technology and Financials at 36.5% and 33.7% respectively, followed by Materials and Industrials at 19.1% and 18.1%. Another notable feature was the allocation of around a third of the portfolio to mid-cap stocks in the £1bn to £5bn range, well above the benchmark representation of 4.9%.⁶

It is a highly unusual portfolio with a gross market exposure - long positions, plus short positions, less any hedging - of 164.2% of total net assets.⁷ This means that stock selection is the key driver, and the approach appears to be working, with nearly a quarter of the outperformance in 2025 attributable to successful short positions.⁸

Performance

According to the interim accounts for the six months ended December 2025, the NAV and shareholder total returns were 34.5% and 38.9% respectively. These were materially ahead of the MSCI Emerging Markets benchmark, which added 18.1%.⁹

The trust experienced a challenging period after the mandate was moved to Fidelity in October 2021, but performance has since recovered, with strong absolute returns and meaningful outperformance of the index. This improvement is likely to have a bearing on the continuation vote and conditional tender offer scheduled for later in the year.¹⁰

Like many other investment trusts, Fidelity Emerging Markets has been caught up in the volatility following the conflict in the Middle East, yet it appears well-placed to weather the storm. The significant overweight position in materials should benefit from higher inflation, while the underweight exposure to major oil importers like China, India and Korea - combined with an overweight position in oil exporter Brazil - appears well judged.

Important information: investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This fund invests in overseas markets and so the value of investments can be affected by changes in currency exchange rates. Investments in emerging markets can be more volatile than other more developed markets. Before investing, please read the relevant key information document which contains important information about the fund. 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. Eligibility to invest in an ISA and tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and all tax rules may change in the future. 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.