IFSL RC Brown UK Primary Opportunities | Fund Update | July 2025
July: FTSE 9000
In a reverse of June, when UK mid caps led the way, it was the FTSE 100 that took centre stage in July as the index breached the 9000 level for the first time in its history, aided by a sharp rally in the dollar towards month end, having hit three year lows against sterling earlier in the month.
Markets shrugged off the worsening political backdrop in the Middle East and no signs of a breakthrough in a peace deal between Russia & Ukraine.
UK inflation rose to 3.6% (from 3.4%), remaining well above the 2% official target, whilst unemployment nudged higher to 4.7%, as a higher minimum wage and national insurance start to bite.
A trade deal between the US and EU was struck at month end. 15% tariffs are to be applied on EU goods, with the EU also committing to invest $600bn in the US and purchase US energy and military equipment. This deal significantly reduces the global trade risk and buoyed markets accordingly.
We participated in the placings of Coats Group and Chesnara.
In July, the IFSL RC Brown UK Primary Opportunities fund returned 2.3% compared with 4.1% for the FTSE All Share and 2.3% for the IA UK All Companies sector, all on a total return basis.
Purchases
Coats Group plc
Coats is a UK‑based industrial-textile business and a FTSE 250 constituent. They specialise in manufacturing industrial threads and structural components for the apparel and footwear sectors. We acquired the shares as part of a placing to fund the purchase of leading global manufacturer of foam insoles – a growing business with strong margins.
Chesnara plc
Chesnara is a pensions consolidator that acquires closed books of life and pension policies in the UK and Netherlands, thus creating predictable cash flows and a generous dividend yield of 9%. We acquired the shares as part of a placing following a £140m rights issue in order to fund the acquisition of HSBC Life (UK).
Sales
No holdings were exited in the month though we did reduce the holdings in Dunelm, Duke Capital and Pennon on relative strength.
Cumulative Performance (Total Return %) – To 31 July 2025
| Fund/Benchmark Name | 3M | 6M | 1Y | 3Y | 5Y | 10Y | Since Inception (28/05/1997) |
| IFSL RC Brown UK Primary Opportunities P Acc | 7.8 | 7.0 | 9.4 | 21.5 | 46.7 | 85.9 | 554.1 |
| Quartile Ranking IA UK All Companies | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| IA UK All Companies | 8.9 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 25.4 | 58.1 | 70.9 | 394.1 |
| FTSE All Share | 8.8 | 7.5 | 12.1 | 35.0 | 80.4 | 95.6 | 465.9 |
Source: FE: 31/07/2025
Discrete Annual Performance (Total Return%) – To 31 July 2025
| Fund/Benchmark Name | Year to 31/07/2025 | Year to 31/07/2024 | Year to 31/07/2023 | Year to 31/07/2022 | Year to 31/07/2021 |
| IFSL RC Brown UK Primary Opportunities P Acc | 9.4 | 12.4 | -1.2 | -10.2 | 34.5 |
| Quartile Ranking IA UK All Companies | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| IA UK All Companies | 7.2 | 13.9 | 2.8 | -4.5 | 32.0 |
| FTSE All Share | 12.1 | 13.5 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 26.6 |
Source: FE: 31/07/2025
Please be advised that the past is not necessarily a guide to future performance. Investments and the income derived from them can fall as well as rise and the investor may not get back the amount originally invested.
