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Specialist in Asia Pacific, China, India and South East Asia and Global Emerging Market equities.

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formerly Realindex Investments

Leader in active quantitative equities across Australian equities, global equities, emerging markets and global small companies.

Backed by a unique blend of research, portfolio construction and risk management, focused on uncovering original insights and translating them into investment strategies that are active and systematic, aiming to generate alpha.

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At Stewart Investors, we believe in putting people first. Our investment world-view is of a series of partnerships – with each other, with our clients, with the companies we invest in, the people who buy their goods and services, and with the wider society in which we all live and work.

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Australian Equities Growth

Actively targeting Australia’s growth engine

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Strategy Overview

Key Facts

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* The unit price for the Fund will be delayed temporarily due to an operational transition in progress, the release of daily unit prices will be delayed.
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* This is an annualised interest rate from the past seven days. For actual performance for our Cash Funds, please view the performance page.

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Performance returns are calculated net of management fees and transaction costs. Performance returns for periods greater than one year are annualised. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

We actively target Australia’s growth engine – high quality growing companies listed on the ASX – to create portfolios with potential to outperform the market.

Our Australian Equities Growth team believe Australia punches above its weight when it comes to generating current and future global leaders across an increasingly diverse range of industries. We actively select high quality growing companies that we think have the greatest potential to compound growth through market cycles.

Explore our strategies

We use active stock selection to fuel a differentiated range of exposures to segments of the Australian share market. We favour companies with a demonstrated ability to reinvest earnings to compound growth over time. These companies may consistently grow sales, cash flows and earnings – and have the potential to retain or assume a future market leadership position.

Fund in focus

First Sentier Geared Australian Share Fund

Low-cost access to one of Australia’s largest and longest-running geared share strategies

Borrowing at low institutional rates to invest, we aim to compound the long-term growth of rising markets by actively gearing a selection of high-quality growing companies across the ASX 100.

As the strategy borrows to invest, there is potential for significant losses in falling markets. The strategy was launched in 1997. The First Sentier Geared Australian Share Fund was created in 2023.

Australian Share Strategy

Invests in broad range of companies aiming to generate both growing and high quality earnings. Together with a valuation discipline, this blend of growth and quality enables this strategy to generate outperformance through the cycle for investors.

Imputation Strategy

Specifically targets quality growth companies paying higher franking credits to deliver enhanced after tax income. Focuses on growing companies that can reinvest earnings at high returns on capital and pay higher franked dividends, delivering strong, sustainable, franked dividend growth.

Concentrated Australian Share Strategy

Invests in the highest conviction quality growth stocks that we believe will generate superior returns for our investors over time. That conviction is enhanced through our dedication to a comprehensive company visitation and engagement program, which also supports our assessment of ESG risks.

Geared Share Strategy

Borrows from a broad range of quality institutions, at attractive rates of interest, to magnify an investor’s long-term returns from capital growth and franking credits. We are also mindful of the strategy’s potential to magnify market losses over the short term and manage portfolio and liquidity risks accordingly.

Ex-20 Australian Share Strategy

Diversifies away from large financials and resources stocks dominating the 'top' 20; and extends down to smaller, under-researched stocks outside the ASX 100.

Separately Managed Accounts

Provides investors with a customisable share portfolio where assets are selected by our expert investment team but owned directly by the investor.

What are the risks?

Although all investments carry risk, the level of risk is dependent on the type of investment strategy and the underlying investments. Generally, the higher the potential return of an investment, the greater the risk.

The risks of investing in the Australian Equities Growth strategies include:

Company risk

Investment in equities is exposed to risks due to changes in that company or its business environment.

Equities risk

Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their values may be more volatile than those of other asset classes.

Gearing risk

Some of the Australian Equities Growth strategies utilise gearing, which involves borrowing additional capital from a lender(s) to increase the amount the fund can invest. Whilst this can result in larger investment gains in a rising market, it is also likely to magnify losses in a falling market.

As with any investment, there are no guarantees on the value of the investment or the income generated from it. Investors may get back less than the original amount invested. For a full description of the terms of investment and the risks, please see the Product Disclosure Statement for each fund.

The 'Curious?' podcast

ASX reporting season: temper your enthusiasm (but only slightly)

Interest rates, business confidence, valuations and the staying power of the consumer dominated conversations as corporate Australia tempered its growth promises heading into 2025. David Wilson and Christian Guerra join us from the First Sentier Investors Australian Equities Growth team to explore the encouraging indicators they believe show resilience in the underlying economy. They share perspectives on companies they believe have the potential to deliver quality earnings growth in a challenging market environment.

Meet the investment team

Dushko Bajic

Head of Australian Equities Growth

David Wilson

Deputy Head of Australian Equities Growth

Christian Guerra

Head of Research

Questions about investing in Australian Equities Growth

What are stock market sectors?

The 2,000+ companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange can be divided into categories defined by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). There are 11 sectors in the first level of the GICS hierarchy, these are; Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financials, Health Care, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Utilities and Real Estate. Each company is assigned to the GICS sector that best defines its business. 

What is an investment style?

Like the GICS sectors, companies can be categorised into different 'style' buckets using a variety of metrics, such as earnings growth, price-to-earnings multiple and dividend yield.

Investors may include a style bias in their security selection process, choosing companies with particular qualities they believe will prove more attractive over time. Major investment styles include growth, value, quality, momentum and income.

What is a growth investment style?

In short, growth investors focus on capital appreciation and attempt to identify companies that will grow their earnings over time and at a faster rate than their peers or the overall economy.

Growth companies typically have a differentiated product or service that can disrupt their respective industry. These companies generally exhibit high returns on capital that is above their cost of capital. This fosters a preference to reinvest firm earnings into additional growth opportunities, rather than pay dividends to shareholders, which in turn drives share price appreciation. 

How do you identify growth companies?

We employ a fundamental, bottom-up analytical framework to assess the investment universe. To identify growth companies, we seek to determine which companies are currently earning a higher return on invested capital (ROIC) than the industry median or, if they are under-earning, have the potential to increase their ROIC.

We believe that industry dynamics are one of the major determinants of company profitability and ROIC. Through in-depth stock research and hands-on engagement, we seek to identify a company’s competitive position within their industry with respect to cost leadership, product differentiation, and qualitative analysis of company specific factors, such as management and strategy.

This industry analysis enables us to understand how a company is able to generate returns on investment capital above their industry median and if it is sustainable.

Responsible investment

We believe that ESG issues have the potential to materially impact company earnings and valuations. As fundamental investors, we seek to identify material financial and non-financial ESG issues and incorporate these into our stock analysis and research. When relevant, the team incorporates ESG issues into financial models and analyst stock ratings.

The team believes that ownership and engaging with company management and boards for change is more effective than exclusions. Team members regularly meet with companies to discuss their approach to ESG issues, including climate change, companies’ relationships with traditional owners, modern slavery, and governance, depending on the relevance of the issue to the company.

Learn more about the Australian Equities Growth team's approach to responsible investment

Want to know more?

Contact your Key Account Manager