11 November 2025
PRESS RELEASE
Quilter Cheviot adds to global equities as part of MPS rebalance
Quilter Cheviot has used a recent rebalance to selectively increase the overall risk exposure of its Managed Portfolio Service by adding to international equities.
With a global recession looking less likely now than earlier this year, and with individual stock opportunities continuing to materialise despite ongoing concerns regarding market concentration and elevated multiples, the team believed this was a good opportunity to hold a modest overweight allocation to equities overall. The rebalance was carried out prior to the strong returns seen from markets in October.
This move was primarily funded by reducing exposure to UK equities in the Balanced and Income portfolios, while also reducing the overall allocations to cash, hedge and absolute return strategies.
Looking at specific activity over the quarter, the MPS team, Simon Doherty, Antony Webb and Oswald Oduntan, also broadened its exposure to the semiconductor industry by adding Broadcom to the MI Quilter Cheviot North American Equity Fund, in place of Salesforce.
Within the MI Quilter Cheviot UK Equity Fund, the team switched up its consumer staples exposure by swapping its holding in Tesco for a new position in Marks & Spencer. Following pleasing gains from the Tesco holding, the team felt it was a good opportunity to act nimbly and switch retail exposures, taking advantage of M&S’ more favourable entry point and long-term growth story following the recent cyber-attack.
More recently, the team has also added a new holding in the UK via Lancashire Holdings in October, the global speciality (re)insurance provider, with the view that the company provides a diversified source of returns outside of the tech giants that have driven markets of late.
Meanwhile, earlier in the quarter, the team initiated a position in the Heptagon Driehaus Emerging Markets Equity fund, taking advantage of a period of relative weakness for the fund. The fund’s current positioning reflects a growth bias, with a preference for companies exhibiting above-average earnings growth as well as a preference for quality characteristics.
Finally, within Europe, the portfolios have seen their healthcare allocations adjusted, along with adding to financials in the form insurance and services giant Allianz.
Simon Doherty, head of managed portfolio services at Quilter Cheviot, said: “There are a lot of negative views out there in the market just now, with talk of bubbles and overstretched valuations. While we obviously cautiously observe that, we don’t feel like now is the time to derisk. Earnings season has kicked off well and there are a lot of opportunities still presenting themselves. As such, we wanted to use this opportunity to tweak some of our exposures within our building block funds and focus on the individual stocks we believe should continue to do well.
“Broadcom was one of those investments and allowed us to diversify our tech exposure. It continues to demonstrate its expertise in the production of so-called application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, designed to support large and standardised workloads at a materially lower cost. With a key OpenAI deal in place too, its growth prospects look strong over the near and medium terms.
“We also continue to find new ideas in the UK that allow us to diversify our return drivers, with the addition of both Lancashire Holdings and M&S to the UK building block. While we watch the economic and fiscal position of the UK, and other developed markets, closely, there remains good, positive stories out there to latch on to and take advantage of. Similarly, emerging markets are showing signs of further attractiveness thanks to stabilisation within the Chinese economy and exposure to growth within India.
“Our building block structure allows us to remain highly nimble and selective, avoiding pockets of exuberance at a time when market concerns are starting to grow louder.”
