Gold appeal

A genuinely differentiated fund blending exposure to gold and silver bullion, and gold and silver mining equites.

Dynamic and differentiated

The Jupiter Gold & Silver Fund, managed by the highly experienced Ned Naylor-Leyland, blends gold and silver bullion listed funds (bullion), and gold and silver equities. The team rotates the weightings to gold and silver bullion and equity exposure according to its view of market conditions.

 

By focusing on listed gold and silver bullion funds, rather than exchange traded funds, Naylor-Leyland focuses on what he sees as a ‘best in class’ custodial practice. By adopting such a practice the bullion fund content can act as a secure physical platform for the mining equity component.

 

Silver, both in the form of bullion and silver mining equities, is added to the portfolio as a means of generating additional alpha.

Aiming to add value through active management as market conditions evolve
Aiming to add value through active management as market conditions evolve

Going for gold

The overriding philosophy of the fund is to provide investors with access to an asset class that is a perceived safe-haven investment, as well as offering a value proposition over the medium to long term. This is pursued by combining the possession of physical gold and silver with the operational gearing characteristics of the precious metals mining companies.

In it to win it

The fund holds between 30-50 stocks, including the listed bullion funds that make up the fund’s exposure to physical metal. The team sees this as an optimal balance between diversification of risk on the one hand and conviction in stock selection terms on the other. Most holdings on the mining equity side will typically be between 2% and 4% of the fund’s total value, with heavier weightings (up to 10%) in the more liquid bullion component.

Fund process

The team’s investment process is dynamic and flexible in nature. An integral part of the asset allocation process is to blend both bullion and equities in gold and silver. The team starts with a ‘base case’ or neutral scenario when deciding how assets are allocated. The fund has a momentum driven signal that triggers a change in the asset allocation model to either a bullish or defensive stance.
Why allocate to gold and silver now?
  • Inflation
    Gain exposure to assets with the potential to perform in a more inflationary environment before a sharp rise in inflation – which is notoriously difficult to track accurately, and which often has a tendency to present itself with very little warning.

     

  • Political uncertainty
    In the present era of political uncertainty, gold is “apolitical” money. The US dollar is highly politicised, and its privileged role in the global financial system is increasingly being questioned. Gold is the only non-political currency, in that it isn’t issued by a central bank. Some countries, including China, are looking to fill the role historically played by the dollar, for example to buy oil. If this trend continues, the importance of the role of gold could grow significantly.

     

  • Diversification
    Exposure to silver and mining shares offers potential for superior returns – as these assets typically rise and fall by more than the gold price itself. The effect of the “boost” provided by these assets overs the price of gold itself in a rising market means that a relatively small allocation to the Fund can potentially offer similar portfolio diversification benefits to a larger holding in, for example, an ETF that is designed simply to track the “spot” price of gold bullion on the international markets.

     

  • Central banks
    Central banks have been talking about the possibility of interest rate rises and removing the monetary stimulus they injected into the financial system after the financial crisis, but so far hikes and stimulus removal have been modest. Amid market uncertainty, this could even go into reverse. We believe gold could be a beneficiary of such an environment.

     

    Many of the world’s largest central banks allocate a significant proportion – or even the majority – of their total reserves in gold, including the US Federal Reserve (74%), Germany’s Bundesbank (69%), the Banca d’Italia (65%), the Banque de France (61%) and the Bank of England (8%).

Risk management is key
The manager considers risk from both a top-down macro market level and bottom-up company level. Prevailing foreign exchange rates in mining jurisdictions versus the US dollar selling prices for both gold and silver are another important consideration from a risk-control perspective.
In terms of mining equities the fund aims for a quality bias in terms of company financials, project viability, management teams and growth potential. While this narrows the investable universe, the bullion weighting of the portfolio mitigates this in overall terms. The team adopts relatively high barriers to entry when considering geopolitical risk, as it sees gold and silver investing as being driven primarily by perceived safe-haven factors. The team also runs a specific balance sheet stress filter to identify potential funding issues ahead of time as the sector is relatively capital intensive.

The operating environment

The operating environment

Meet the team

About the fund manager

Ned joined the company from Merian Global Investors and manages the Jupiter Gold & Silver Fund. He has nearly two decades of experience in precious metals investing, having founded a dedicated monetary metals fund in 2009 at Quilter Cheviot. Ned began his career at Smith & Williamson and graduated from the University of Bristol in 1998 with a BA (Hons) in Spanish.