Investor Summary
Fund Strategy
FUND PERFORMANCE AS OF 31st December 2025
| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 11.3% | 5.0% | 23.1% |
| 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|
| 26.7% | 22.0% |
| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 11.3% | 5.0% | 23.1% |
| 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|
| 26.7% | 22.0% |
Hardman Johnston Global Equity delivered strong 2025 performance despite modest Q4 underperformance versus the MSCI AC World Net Index. The portfolio benefited from excellent stock selection, particularly in Financials where Standard Chartered and Citigroup drove returns through wealth management growth and transformation strategies. Defense holdings like Rheinmetall faced temporary headwinds from Ukraine peace deal speculation but maintain strong long-term fundamentals with visible multi-year growth. The manager initiated positions in secular growth themes including Cameco for nuclear energy exposure and Vertiv for data center infrastructure, both benefiting from AI-driven energy demands. Key risks include AI concentration across seemingly diversified portfolios and persistent geopolitical tensions. However, the manager sees abundant opportunities in an environment of global turbulence, maintaining focus on companies with predictable growth and competitive moats. Portfolio positioning emphasizes quality businesses capable of delivering outperformance while carefully monitoring exposure concentration, particularly around AI-related themes that have stretched beyond traditional technology sectors.
Focus on high-quality businesses with durable competitive advantages and visible, predictable growth to deliver long-term outperformance across market cycles.
The manager expresses confidence in their ability to identify growth and avoid value traps to deliver long-term outperformance. They see persistence in positive themes like increased global defense spending while remaining cautious around AI concentration risk. Despite unprecedented global turbulence and geopolitical uncertainty, they view this as an environment rich with opportunity, with their focus on fundamentals and visible, predictable growth positioning them to identify resilient companies capable of delivering outperformance across market cycles.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 14 2026 | 2025 Q4 | 6501.T, AMZN, BAC, C, CCO, CTVA, EL, ELAN, GOOGL, HDFCBANK.NS, LLY, MELI, META, PRX.AS, RHM.DE, STAN.L, TMUS, UBER, VRT, VRTX | AI, banks, Data centers, defense, financials, global, nuclear, technology |
C EL RHM GR UBER MELI LLY 6501 JP CCJ ELAN HDB VRT CTVA TMUS VRTX |
The manager sees AI as having long-term potential to drive productivity gains and positions to take advantage of that growth. However, they remain cautious about AI becoming the only game in town and continue to monitor exposure closely. They note that excitement about AI has stretched beyond IT into energy, utilities and other businesses in the AI value chain, creating concentration risk. The manager remains positive on defense fundamentals and long-term growth potential despite sporadic pullbacks. They see a clear structural shift toward defense after years of underinvestment, with visible growth stretching years into the future through strong orders, high backlogs, and political will to invest in national security. Banks were leading sector contributors with strong performance from Standard Chartered and Citigroup. Standard Chartered benefits from wealth management platform growth and cross-border services, while Citigroup's transformation strategy is paying off with improved deal activity and better regulatory environment expected in 2026. The manager re-entered Vertiv given the long-term secular data center infrastructure story and strong fundamentals. They reference approximately 100GW of incremental data-center capacity additions from 2024-2029, representing meaningful revenue upside for companies with global presence in thermal and electrical equipment. The manager initiated a position in Cameco, citing structural shifts away from Russian uranium sourcing and reinvigorated nuclear development due to AI energy needs and low carbon merits. Westinghouse's agreement with the US Department of Commerce to support at least $80bn of new reactor construction materially increases earnings power. Estée Lauder drove Consumer Staples performance as the company progresses through its turnaround with outperformance in sales, margins, China, US and Travel Retail. Beauty overall is described as one of the more resilient categories enjoying both volume and value growth, with luxury beauty positioned well in the K-shaped economy. |
| Oct 21 2025 | 2025 Q3 | BSX, CBK GR, CTVA, IFX GR, PRX NA, PRY IM, STAN LN, STMPA FP, TEAM, TSM, VRTX | AI, Europe, financials, Global Equities, semiconductors |
STAN ADYEN TSM |
The fund underperformed due to weakness in tech and healthcare but remains constructive on global equities. Financials like Commerzbank and Standard Chartered led gains, while TSMC and STMicro highlight exposure to AI semiconductors and industrial electrification. Management sees opportunities in Europe and Asia despite macro uncertainty. |
| Jul 17 2025 | 2025 Q2 | 6501 JP, BN, CBK GR, ELAN, HWM, LLY, MELI, MRVL, PRX NA, RHM GR, TEAM, TMUS, TSM, UNH, VRTX | AI Demand, Global Growth, industrials, Margins, stock selection |
TEAM HWM RHM GR MELI TMUS VRTX LLY TSM UNH CBK GR 6501 JP MRVL BN |
The commentary emphasizes global growth driven by industrial recovery, defense spending, and AI-related demand. Management highlights strong stock selection in companies with margin expansion, pricing power, and visible growth runways. Regional diversification and sector leadership underpin outperformance. |
| Mar 31 2025 | 2025 Q1 | HWM, IFX GR, MELI, MRVL, PRX NA, RHM GR, TSM, VRT | - | - | |
| Dec 31 2024 | 2024 Q4 | BAC, CTVA, ELAN, HWM, IQV, LEN, MELI, OLED, SCHW, TEAM, UBER, VRT | - | - | |
| Sep 30 2024 | 2024 Q3 | ASML, HWM, MELI, META, PRX NA, SAF FP, TEAM, VRTX | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AIAI has been integrated into RGA's research process through tools like NotebookLM, Gems in Gemini, and Claude Code. The firm views AI as a force multiplier for human judgment rather than a replacement, emphasizing the Kasparov Law principle. They believe the market narrative around AI displacement is swinging to unhelpful extremes, creating investment opportunities. |
Machine Learning Automation Software Productivity Innovation |
BeautyEstée Lauder drove Consumer Staples performance as the company progresses through its turnaround with outperformance in sales, margins, China, US and Travel Retail. Beauty overall is described as one of the more resilient categories enjoying both volume and value growth, with luxury beauty positioned well in the K-shaped economy. |
Luxury China Travel Retail Resilience Consumer | |
Data CentersSupply constraints curtailing infrastructure buildout rate, but compute capacity is being used immediately upon coming online. This differs from dot-com bubble when dark fiber was installed ahead of need. Labor, power and land shortages creating bottlenecks. |
Supply Constraints Utilization Bottlenecks Infrastructure | |
Defense SpendingThe entire world is rapidly rearming off an extremely low base of defense spending. This exposure focuses on companies that make armaments for nation state security and materially outperformed for the year. |
Defense Armaments Rheinmetall Palantir RTX | |
FinancialsEuropean banks have been rehabilitated after years in purgatory, with returns of 77% in 2025. Return on equity has normalized above 12% following exit from ultra-low rates, while capital positions have been rebuilt. However, supportive factors are well-appreciated by markets, reflected in significant valuation re-rating. |
Banks Return On Equity Interest Rates Capital Valuations | |
NuclearPosition in Uranium Energy as the largest licensed uranium miner in the U.S., positioned to benefit from renewed focus on nuclear power as long-term energy solution and U.S. efforts to strengthen domestic nuclear fuel supply chains for national security. |
Uranium Mining Nuclear Power Energy Security Domestic Supply National Security | |
| 2025 Q3 |
AIAI has been integrated into RGA's research process through tools like NotebookLM, Gems in Gemini, and Claude Code. The firm views AI as a force multiplier for human judgment rather than a replacement, emphasizing the Kasparov Law principle. They believe the market narrative around AI displacement is swinging to unhelpful extremes, creating investment opportunities. |
Machine Learning Automation Software Productivity Innovation |
FinancialsEuropean banks have been rehabilitated after years in purgatory, with returns of 77% in 2025. Return on equity has normalized above 12% following exit from ultra-low rates, while capital positions have been rebuilt. However, supportive factors are well-appreciated by markets, reflected in significant valuation re-rating. |
Banks Return On Equity Interest Rates Capital Valuations | |
SemiconductorsRGA initiated a position in Lattice Semiconductor, viewing it as an under-appreciated AI winner with immediate gains and longer-term optionality. Lattice's focus on efficiency and advantages in low-power, small footprint FPGAs position it favorably for AI servers, particularly as the only Post-Quantum Cryptography secure chips on the market. |
FPGAs Security Efficiency AI Infrastructure Programmable | |
| 2025 Q2 |
Growth |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 21, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | TSM | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. | Information Technology | Semiconductors | Bull | NYSE | AI, Capacity, Foundry, HPC, Pricing power, semiconductors | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | RHM GR | Rheinmetall AG | Industrials | Aerospace & Defense | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | backlog, Defense, growth, Procurement, Rearmament, visibility | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | TEAM | Atlassian, Corp. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Developers, productivity, Software, valuation | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | UBER | Uber Technologies Inc. | Industrials | Passenger Ground Transportation | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Autonomy, Freecashflow, mobility, Networks, platform, profitability | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | HWM | Howmet Aerospace, Inc. | Industrials | Aerospace & Defense | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Aerospace, aftermarket, Margins, Pricing power, Production | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | MELI | MercadoLibre Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Internet & Direct Marketing Retail | Bull | NASDAQ | advertising, Competition, Ecosystem, Fintech, Logistics, Margins, Reinvestment | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | RHM GR | Rheinmetall AG | Industrials | Aerospace & Defense | Bull | XETRA | Ammunition, backlog, Defense, Europe, Rearmament | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | LLY | Eli Lilly and Company | Health Care | Pharmaceuticals | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Access, Diabetes, Glp1, Launch, Obesity, Prescriptions, tariffs | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | MELI | MercadoLibre, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Internet & Direct Marketing Retail | Bull | NASDAQ | consolidation, ecommerce, Fintech, Latin America, Penetration | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | 6501 JP | Hitachi, Ltd. | Industrials | Industrial Conglomerates | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Digital, Execution, guidance, infrastructure, Margins, profitability | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | TMUS | T-Mobile US, Inc. | Communication Services | Wireless Telecommunication Services | Bull | NASDAQ | acquisition, ARPU, Churn, Subscribers, Wireless | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | CCJ | Cameco Corporation | Energy | Coal & Consumable Fuels | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Contracting, Decarbonization, Nuclear, Scarcity, Underinvestment, uranium | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | VRTX | Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Health Care | Biotechnology | Bull | NASDAQ | Counterfeit, Cystic fibrosis, Margins, Royalty, Transition | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | ELAN | Elanco Animal Health Incorporated | Health Care | Pharmaceuticals | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Acquisitions, consolidation, Logistics, Margins, Parasiticides, pipeline, valuation | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | LLY | Eli Lilly and Company | Health Care | Pharmaceuticals | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Diabetes, Formulary, GLP-1, Obesity, pipeline | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | HDB | HDFC Bank Limited | Financials | Diversified Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Accessibility, banking, Deposits, Integration, NIM, Share, synergy | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | TSM | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | Information Technology | Semiconductors | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | AI, Demand, Foundry, manufacturing, Monopoly | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | VRT | Vertiv Holdings Co. | Industrials | Electrical Components & Equipment | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | AI, cloud, Cooling, datacenters, infrastructure, Margins, Power | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | UNH | UnitedHealth Group, Inc. | Health Care | Managed Health Care | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Execution, exit, guidance, Investigation, Medical Loss Ratio | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Materials | Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals | Bear | New York Stock Exchange | agriculture, Chemicals, Cycle, Seeds, valuation | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | CBK GR | Commerzbank AG | Financials | Diversified Banks | Bull | XETRA | Germany, profitability, Rates, restructuring, turnaround | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | TMUS | T-Mobile US, Inc. | Communication Services | Wireless Telecommunication Services | Bear | NASDAQ | CapEx, cashflow, Churn, Competition, Wireless | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | 6501 JP | Hitachi, Ltd. | Industrials | Industrial Conglomerates | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | energy transition, Grid, Nuclear, restructuring, Software | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | VRTX | Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | Health Care | Biotechnology | Bear | NASDAQ | Biotech, Catalysts, growth, pipeline, Pricing | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | MRVL | Marvell Technology, Inc. | Information Technology | Semiconductors | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Competition, consolidation, exit, valuation | Login |
| Jul 17, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | BN | Brookfield, Corp. | Financials | Asset Management & Custody Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Capital markets, exit, Fundraising, monetization, tariffs | Login |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | STAN | Standard Chartered PLC | Financials | Banks | Bull | NYSE | Asia banking, capital return, Digital Assets, ROE, Tokenization, wealth management | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | C | Citigroup Inc. | Financials | Diversified Banks | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, Discipline, Regulation, rerating, transformation, Volatility | Login |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | ADYEN | Atlassian Corp. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bear | NASDAQ | AI, cloud migration, Collaboration, growth, SaaS, Software | Login |
| Jan 14, 2026 | Fund Letters | Cassandra A. Hardman | EL | Estée Lauder Companies Inc. | Consumer Staples | Personal Products | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Demand, Luxury, Margins, Stabilization, Travel, turnaround | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| AMZN | One company we own that we think has unique positioning to benefit from both the infrastructure and application layers is Amazon. Amazon's logistical prowess is one of the foremost moats in business today and it can and will be enhanced with AI. The company will do this in multiple ways, with better orchestration of its logistics assets and underlying cargo, as well as the buildout of more capable, sophisticated and robust robotics. Amazon is singularly well positioned to dominate the coordination layer, with AI's help, across its entire logistics network. |
| BAC | BAC, JNJ, JPM, and XOM were held in Miller/Howard portfolios as of December 31, 2025. |
| C | Money center bank Citigroup rose amid strong capital markets activity and benign credit conditions. The company continued to repurchase stock and return capital to shareholders, while expenses related to its transformation are expected to decline next year. |
| CCO | We initiated a position in Cameco Corp., a vertically-integrated global leader in uranium mining and fuel services. With its 49% stake in Westinghouse acquired in 2023, the company moved further downstream and holds key nuclear technology which is employed on approx. half of the global nuclear installed base. Since Russia's Ukraine invasion, countries have been shifting uranium and fuel sourcing away from Russia, and Cameco is well-poised to benefit from this structural shift. Furthermore, with the emergence of AI and its vast energy needs, nuclear development has been reinvigorated globally due to its low carbon merits and stable base load power. In Oct 2025, Westinghouse signed a landmark agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce to support at least US$80bn of new nuclear reactor construction to start by 2030. Along with a more favorable regulatory backdrop for permitting, we believe this materially increases the earnings power of Cameco. Given the structural nature of the Westinghouse agreement and the potential for a broader global nuclear investment cycle, we are excited about the prospects for Cameco. |
| CTVA | A decision to separate Corteva's seed and crop protection businesses into two listed entities worked against the agricultural company. The separation may create long-term value, but we sold out of the position on what we felt was a more uncertain outlook. |
| EL | Estée Lauder is in the midst of a turnaround, and fiscal 1Q26 results (ended September 30) results provided outperformance against many of the key touchpoints: sales, margins, China, US and Travel Retail. News flow since then points to a successful 11/11 for EL in China (25% of company sales), continued stabilization in the US and a Travel Retail channel that is no longer declining. Beauty overall is a one of the more resilient categories, enjoying both volume and value growth, and a hallmark of the 2025 holiday season is the K shaped economy and consumer behavior – as a major player in luxury beauty EL is at the nexus of these trends. Stock performance reflects optimism regarding continued progress driven by internal initiatives as well as optimism regarding the broader beauty market. |
| GOOGL | In the third quarter, Google, Kairos Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced a major collaboration centered on a novel power purchase agreement. Google followed this announcement with another significant step forward. On October 27, Google and NextEra Energy announced plans to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center. |
| LLY | Eli Lilly shares were a top performer in 4Q25 after delivering strong Q3 2025 earnings in October. Revenue rose 54% year-over-year to $17.6 billion, and adjusted EPS of $7.02 beat consensus of $6.02. Growth was driven by its GLP-1 franchises, Mounjaro and Zepbound, where sales more than doubled year-over-year, alongside strength in other therapeutic areas. Management raised full-year guidance for both revenue and earnings, reinforcing investor confidence in the company's growth outlook. |
| MELI | E-commerce Volatility: turbulence in our e-commerce portfolio companies, Sea Ltd (Southeast Asia) and MercadoLibre (Latin America), amidst aggressive price wars. |
| META | On January 9, Meta Platforms unveiled a new agreement with Vistra—the largest generator of competitive electricity in the United States—as well as with TerraPower and Oklo. The announcement builds on Meta's agreement last year with Constellation Energy and positions the company to become one of the largest corporate purchasers of nuclear-generated electricity in the United States. |
| PRX.AS | Prosus is a core, long-term holding primarily valued for its substantial stake in Tencent, a company we believe has significant growth potential and a strong global competitive advantage. A key element of our thesis is that Prosus's current market capitalization is less than the value of its Tencent holding alone. In addition to the Tencent stake, Prosus holds an estimated $35 billion in other listed and unlisted assets. |
| RHM.DE | The top three contributors to this underperformance came from Rheinmetall (German Defense). The top three contributors to this outperformance came from Rheinmetall (German Defense) |
| STAN.L | Standard Chartered was the largest contributor to the Fund's performance in 2025. It contributed 8.5% to NAV. Inclusive of dividends, the shares doubled in value. We took some gains towards the end of the year, selling $2mn worth of shares. We continue to trim the position as the shares rise. The success of Standard Chartered's turnaround became evident during the year. It is generating a decent return on equity. The bank is now well-placed to benefit from its strong position in high growth markets particularly leveraging its cross-border trade network in Corporate Banking as well as a compelling proposition in Wealth & Retail Banking. At the beginning of 2025, the shares traded at less than 0.7x book value. They now trade at 1.2x book value and 10.6x 2026 estimated earnings. The shares still trade below fair value and the company continues to buy back its own shares. |
| TMUS | T-MOBILE US INC detracted -0.32% from relative performance |
| UBER | UBER was a detractor in the fourth quarter following its third-quarter 2025 earnings report, which delivered strong operating performance but was met with a muted market reaction. Gross Bookings and adjusted EBITDA both came in near the high end of management's guidance, driven by accelerating demand across both Mobility and Delivery. However, investor focus shifted to commentary around reduced margin expansion as the company steps up investment in growth initiatives, including autonomous vehicle partnerships, platform innovation, and commerce expansion. |
| VRT | I was short what I think are low quality names that have benefited from a huge Capex run up in datacenters but offer services that will get commoditized and are trading on very high earnings multiples on top of really above historical margins (TSSI STRL CLS ORCL VRT TGEN). |
| VRTX | Top gainers in the Fund this quarter included Vertex Pharmaceuticals (+16%) |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Buys Data | |||||
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Sells Data | ||||||
| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No industry data available | |||