Summer Global Equities
Summer Global Equities fund performance summary as at 31 August 2025.
Fund at a glance
Unit price (as at 31 August 2025): $2.3221
Date the fund started: 19 September 2016
For information on fees, see our Fees page.
For more information on the Summer Global Equities fund, read the latest quarterly fund update and the product disclosure statement.
Fund objective and strategy
See the Global Equities page for the Summary of investment objective and strategy.
Fund returns
| PIR | Total since inception (annualised) | 1 Month | 3 Month | 1 Year | 3 Years^ |
| 28% | 9.34% | 2.31% | 4.77% | 12.35% | 14.98% |
| 17.50% | 9.63% | 2.30% | 4.75% | 12.12% | 15.21% |
| 10.50% | 9.83% | 2.29% | 4.74% | 11.97% | 15.36% |
^ Annualised
Fund returns are calculated net of fund charges, trading expenses and accrued tax for a New Zealand resident individual paying tax at the Prescribed Investor Rate identified above.
Top 10 investments
The top 10 investments make up 43.00% of the fund.
Manager's Commentary
How did your portfolio perform?
The Summer Global Equities Fund (the fund) delivered a return net of fees and before tax of 2.28% during August. For the 12 months to the end of August, the fund delivered a return net of fees and before tax of 11.74%.
Our managers produced mixed results but in combination beat the benchmark. Developed markets (ex-US) and Asia-Pacific solidly outpaced US equities, which supported our underweight US position. Lower-risk stocks outperformed, whilst growth sectors including Information Technology underperformed.
We are actively managing our ‘Growth at a Reasonable Price’ manager after a period of underperformance, lowering our allocation to the manager whilst maintaining exposure to the broader global equity market. The active share within the portfolio remains within our target range.
We actively manage the fund’s foreign currency exposures. Over the month the New Zealand dollar fell -0.05% against the US dollar, as well as falling against the Euro and Japanese Yen.
What happened in the markets that you invest in?
Global equity markets continued last month’s positive run, with developed markets ex-US posting solid gains. Second-quarter earnings reports to the end of June supported US share prices with the S&P 500 gaining 2% for the month. Around 75% of the S&P500 constituents beat earnings estimates, based on revised, lower forecasts after April’s tariff announcements. A softer US labour market has shifted the US Fed’s tone towards further easing, and the fixed-income market quickly priced in a 0.25% cut to the fed-funds rate for September. Meanwhile, a report from a prominent US University indicated that AI pilot programmes are not yet boosting corporate revenue growth in the technology sector, challenging some AI capex forecasts.
European manufacturing expanded for the first time in over three years, while China’s manufacturing sector remained contractionary. Japan’s auto sector weakened, with lower factory production and falling car prices.
What are we thinking about the future?
Policy uncertainty remains elevated. However, tariff measures in the US, China, Japan, and Europe have reduced the risk of a global recession. The base case still points to gradually rising inflation and a softer employment outlook.
US real GDP growth is expected to be 1.5% annualised, better than feared three months ago but still well below last year and prior years, reflecting the drag from uncertainty on economic momentum.
We believe high US equity valuations will limit the potential for markets to repeat the strong double-digit gains of recent years. Both risk and valuations have risen since the start of the year. Historically, when Price-to-Earnings ratios reach 1.6–1.7 standard deviations above average (above the 90th percentile), future returns have typically settled in the mid-single digits. This is against the backdrop of an economy growing only modestly below average.
Our managers continue to position portfolios toward attractive opportunities across sectors and regions to enhance risk-adjusted outcomes. We balance complementary multi-manager styles to ensure alignment with the Fund’s overall target risk and return objectives.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial product and does not take your personal circumstances into account. All opinions reflect our judgement on the date of communication and may change without notice. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance. We recommend you take financial advice before making investment decisions. We have prepared this web page in good faith based on information obtained from other sources, but we do not guarantee the accuracy of that information. We do not make any representation or warranty (express or implied) that this web page is accurate, complete, or current and to the maximum extent permitted by law disclaim any liability for loss which may be incurred by any person relying on this web page.
