Accessibility Links
The Virgin Climate Change Fund is an environmental fund with a difference.
It’s an actively managed fund investing in select companies who are driving outstanding profit growth and are environmental leaders in their industry.
Research shows environmentally aware companies are starting to outperform others. Customers prefer them, and they’re not saddled with penalties for pollution imposed by governments and regulators.
Unlike typical ‘environmental’ funds, our fund can invest in all industries and sectors offering high-growth opportunities.
We ‘cherry pick’ the companies with good environmental credentials from each industry, and identify those we consider will deliver the highest returns.
The net result for investors? A better return on your money.
World class expertise in high growth investments
To launch this fund we’ve teamed up with GLG, one of the world’s leading fund managers. GLG’s pedigree of innovative investment strategies that consistently beat stock market indices has won them numerous industry awards for outstanding performance. GLG’s own European Equity Fund has delivered 134%* growth since 1999. And while the performance of their existing funds can’t be taken as an indication of how the Virgin Climate Change Fund will perform, it does demonstrate their strong track record. Typically, GLG have previously only dealt with high net worth individuals and large institutions. With Virgin Money you can now invest from £50 a month.
* Class A shares as of 31 March 2008 net of all fees.
Lighter footprint companies can outperform
Analysis shows environmentally aware companies may perform better. Put simply, the cleaner companies are becoming best placed to give you the best returns on your investment. People are voting with their wallets, choosing greener, cleaner alternatives. Heavy polluters face increasing taxes and penalties, giving those companies adopting good environmental practices a competitive advantage. Our fund gives you a hotline to those companies who are taking an environmental lead in their industries, providing the chance to combine superior investment returns with making a positive impact on the environment.
More potential than your average fund
Many ‘green’ funds fail to give decent returns because they put politics before performance, excluding lucrative sectors like oil, mining and transportation. The Virgin Climate Change Fund is different. It recognises that environmentally aware companies in ALL industries are starting to gain a competitive advantage. So it ‘cherry picks’ the best from each industry from an environmental standpoint, investing in those with the highest growth prospects. Our ‘all sectors’ approach offers the chance to not only outperform most other ‘green’ funds, but other traditional non-environmental methods of stock picking too. See how it compares with typical 'exclusive' environmental investing.
It’s a fund no investor can afford to ignore
We believe the Virgin Climate Change Fund is one of the most exciting investments on the market today, tapping into a compelling opportunity emerging in the marketplace that makes it better for investors and better for the planet. No investor wants to trade performance for a pat on the back. Yet no one can ignore the impact of climate change on the world our children will inherit. The Virgin Climate Change Fund offers the perfect solution, providing the opportunity to make investment capital out of helping the planet.
Our FTSE All-Share Tracker Fund invests in the long-term potential of the whole stock market.
While past performance can never guarantee the future, shares have consistently outperformed most other investments over the last century, which is why they remain the No1 choice for professional investors.
Our tracker fund buys shares in every company listed on the FTSE All-Share Index, so it’s an investment that keeps track with the market every step of the way.
Because your savings lock on to the returns of the whole index, you’ll never miss out on any stock market growth.
Even in poor stock market periods, share dividends can mean your investment is still growing.
When share prices go up you automatically keep track
The great appeal of index tracking is that it’s one of the surest ways to benefit from the stock market, making the most of its historic long-term growth. It works on the following principle: that when share prices go up you automatically ‘keep track’. It’s ideal for newcomers or those without the time to research their investment strategy.
You're in good company - 700 good companies
Virgin were the pioneers of low-cost index tracking in this country. A fact that’s made our tracker fund one of the largest and most popular in the UK. One big reason for this success was our decision to lock our index tracker into the main benchmark of stock market performance in the UK – the FTSE All-Share Index. This is made up of the 700 or so leading businesses quoted on the London Stock Exchange, from big high street names to fast growing smaller firms, giving you a balanced spread of investments across the whole of British industry. That means you’re spreading your risk as widely as possible. And because many of the companies are truly international, you effectively benefit from investment in overseas markets too.
You get consistent performance
At the heart of our tracker fund is a tried and tested investment approach that really makes sense. Because it locks your returns into the FTSE All-Share Index, your returns shouldn’t fluctuate as much as in an actively managed fund. Although share prices go up and down on a daily basis, it’s the long-term upward trend of the market that you are investing in, rather than individual shares which can go up and down a lot more.
For the record, customers growing their savings in our index tracking fund since it launched in March 1995 have received an average return of 7.37% a year, turning an original investment of £3,000 into £7,601.99 on 1.4.08 – a total return of more than 153.4%, as the graph shows. Show graph.
If ten years seems a long time, here is a table showing the returns you’d have gotten from our tracker fund in each of the last five years. Show table.
Always remember though, past performance isn’t a guide to the future, and with all stock market investments the value of your savings and the income you get from them can fall as well as rise, so you may not get back the amount you invested.
Fixed interest investments like bonds and gilts are considered a half way house between riskier shares and a risk-free deposit account.
Bonds and gilts offer a steady income with low risk to your capital.
Our fund invests roughly half your money in top-rated corporate bonds and half in government gilts, which are about as safe as fixed interest investments get.
The bonds we invest in are issued by some of the most creditworthy UK and European companies.
Our gilts are benchmarked against the FT-A British Government 5-15 year stock index.
You can have your interest paid out to you as a regular income, or reinvested for growth.
A steady interest return with low investment risk
Whether you’re looking to grow your savings or get an income from them, if you’re not comfortable investing in shares, our bond and gilt fund may offer the perfect solution. It offers a higher return than you’d normally get from a deposit account, without dramatically increasing your risk.
Bonds are considered a half way house between shares and a deposit account in terms of risk and return. They offer more security than shares and the interest they generate should outstrip most savings accounts. Since it launched in 1995 our bond and gilt fund investors have enjoyed an average return of over 5.01% a year, as this graph shows.
We put the security of your capital first
One of the basic rules of investment is that risk and return go hand in hand. At Virgin Money we recognise that to customers investing in a fixed-interest fund, the security of your capital is as important as a steady return on your money.
Our investment approach aims to strike the right balance, by only investing your cash in top-rated corporate bonds with highly creditworthy and well-known companies from Europe and the UK, plus a range of government gilts, which are at the safest end of the spectrum for fixed interest investments.
Here's a full listing of the corporate bonds we currently invest in.
You can use our fund for growth or income
Because bonds and gilts pay out regular interest, you can choose to have this paid out to you as a regular six monthly income, or you can have it reinvested to grow your savings. You just tick the box to let us know when you apply. And you can change your mind and switch whenever you like.
