Schroder ISF* European Innovators
Making meaningful progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires technical innovation.“Science is our great ally in the efforts to achieve the goals”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
The private sector has a huge role to play in advancing many of the UN SDGs through technological innovation. In this fund, we hand pick a group of companies who understand this, and are using their expertise in science and engineering to lead the way.
*Schroder International Selection Fund is referred to as Schroder ISF.
Technical innovation – Why is it important?
Simply changing our behaviour is not enough. Driving productivity and sustainability into areas such as agriculture, industry, urban living, transport, construction, energy and beyond requires technological innovation applied at scale. So does driving broader access to safe, reliable and quality infrastructure, healthcare, communications, financial services and more.
Technological innovation can also be the basis for a strong business model
Innovative, science based products that create measurable benefit and utility for customers can lead to strong pricing power, capital light business models and high barriers to entry. They can open up new markets and drive growth. Marrying these business principles to the market opportunities available in helping to solve pressing global problems is a compelling investment opportunity.
What makes the European Innovators strategy a uniquely exciting opportunity?
“When a social need can be tackled with a profitable business model, the magic of capitalism is unleashed”. - Michael E. Porter
The founding principle of this fund is that there are innovative, profitable companies quoted in Europe that are supplying products and services which are crucial for a successful transition to a more sustainable, efficient and healthy planet.
Our focus is on companies innovating in the field of science and engineering and we use the UN SDGs as a framework for understanding Environmental and Social issues. The fund has the objective of sustainable investment within the meaning of Article 9 SFDR. It is actively managed and invests at least 75% of its assets in sustainable investments, which are companies that generate revenue from products and services that contribute towards the advancement of one or more of the UN SDGs.
The fund is aimed at clients with a long-term investment horizon who are less focused on short-term relative performance compared to the MSCI Europe and who want their capital allocated to companies advancing the sustainability agenda. The fund is concentrated with 20-25 companies and will have a low turnover.
Mapping revenue to SDGs
We look for companies selling products or services that can help advance of one or more of the UN SDGs. We use a proprietary bottom-up SDG mapping process to verify that all of the companies in the portfolio are generating revenue from products and services that can be clearly mapped to the 17 development goals and their 169 sub-targets.
Meet the team
Schroder ISF European Innovators
A team with experience
Longevity – 15 years managing funds together
Combined 36 years managing European equities
Long record of outperformance
Managed across multiple market cycles
“Investing in innovative companies does not have to mean investing in highly speculative or loss making businesses. We can access meaningful innovation, through proven and highly profitable companies. Their products and services are making a meaningful impact on many of the SDGs, while also generating strong cash flows today and we think, long into the future.”
Related Documents
What are the risks?
- Concentration risk: The portfolio may be concentrated in a limited number of geographical regions, industry sectors, markets and/or individual positions. This may result in large changes in the value of the fund, both up or down.
- Counterparty risk: The portfolio may have contractual agreements with counterparties. If a counterparty is unable to fulfil their obligations, the sum that they owe to the fund may be lost in part or in whole.
- Currency risk: The portfolio may lose value as a result of movements in foreign exchange rates.
- Derivatives risk: Derivatives may be used to manage the portfolio efficiently. A derivative may not perform as expected, may create losses greater than the cost of the derivative and may result in losses to the portfolio.
- Higher volatility risk: The price of funds in this strategy may be volatile as it may take higher risks in search of higher rewards.
- IBOR: The transition of the financial markets away from the use of interbank offered rates (IBORs) to alternative reference rates may impact the valuation of certain holdings and disrupt liquidity in certain instruments. This may impact the investment performance of the portfolio.
- Liquidity risk: In difficult market conditions, the portfolio may not be able to sell a security for full value or at all. This could affect performance and could cause the portfolio to defer or suspend redemptions of its shares.
- Market risk: The value of investments can go up and down and an investor may not get back the amount initially invested.
- Operational risk: Operational processes, including those related to the safekeeping of assets, may fail. This may result in losses to the portfolio.
- Performance risk: Investment objectives express an intended result but there is no guarantee that such a result will be achieved. Depending on market conditions and the macro economic environment, investment objectives may become more difficult to achieve.
- Sustainability risk: The portfolio has environmental and/or social characteristics. This means it may have limited exposure to some companies, industries or sectors and may forego certain investment opportunities, or dispose of certain holdings, that do not align with its sustainability criteria. Therefore, the portfolio may underperform other portfolios that do not apply similar criteria. The portfolio may invest in companies that do not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor.
Important information
This document does not constitute an offer to anyone, or a solicitation by anyone, to subscribe for shares of Schroder International Selection Fund (the “Company”). Nothing in this document should be construed as advice and is therefore not a recommendation to buy or sell shares. An investment in the Company entails risks, which are fully described in the prospectus.
Subscriptions for shares of the Company can only be made on the basis of its latest Key Investor Information Document and prospectus, together with the latest audited annual report (and subsequent unaudited semi-annual report, if published), copies of which can be obtained, free of charge, from Schroder Investment Management (Europe) S.A. For Luxembourg, these documents can be obtained in English at www.schroders.luSchroders may decide to cease the distribution of any fund(s) in any EEA country at any time but we will publish our intention to do so on our website, in line with applicable regulatory requirements.
The fund has environmental and/or social characteristics within the meaning of Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on Sustainability-related Disclosures in the Financial Services Sector (the “SFDR”). For information on sustainability-related aspects of this fund please go to www.schroders.com. Any reference to sectors/countries/stocks/securities are for illustrative purposes only and not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument/securities or adopt any investment strategy. Past Performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amounts originally invested. Exchange rate changes may cause the value of investments to fall as well as rise.
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