Investment fund Guinness Global Innovators makes money for investors by taking stakes in companies that are involved in leading edge technology – everything from artificial intelligence and clean energy through to robotics and automation.

It’s an investment strategy that fund managers Matthew Page and Ian Mortimer have been working together on for 14 years, fine-tuning it along the way. 

Of the £720million of assets that they run for investors according to this theme, just over £600million is in the fund.

So far, the results indicate that the formula works a treat. Since launch in late October 2014, the fund has delivered a return of 200 per cent.  

This compares to the 120 per cent profit that the average global investment fund has generated and the 170 per cent gain made by the FTSE World Index.

Although the managers’ investment approach is centred on identifying stellar companies operating in sectors driving both economic growth and transformation, it is not as high risk as it seems.

A number of checks and balances are built into the portfolio to ensure it remains diversified, not over-reliant on specific holdings, and not owning a long-tail of unsuccessful stakes. 

So, if a new company is brought into the portfolio, an existing stock must be sold – with the number of holdings remaining at a constant 30. This ensures the fund is very much focused on the managers’ best ideas.

Late last month, the fund’s stake in US pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb was disposed of – and a position taken in Danish rival Novo Nordisk.

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All the businesses held by the fund must also fit within the nine investment themes that Page and Mortimer have identified as key drivers of growth. When bought, they must also have stock market capitalisations of at least $1billion (£807million).

Unlike rival funds such as investment trust Scottish Mortgage, it avoids early-stage growth companies which can result in big losses as well as spectacular gains.

Finally, the managers strive to hold equal portfolio stakes in all 30 companies, although the strong share price performance of a specific stock will often throw this out of line in the short term.

For example, US software giant Nvidia is currently the fund’s biggest holding at 4.8 per cent, a result of its strong share price return (up 83 per cent over the past six months). 

The managers will trim the position if it hits five per cent. Stakes that don’t perform well are disposed of. ‘We don’t water weeds,’ says Mortimer.

The result is a fund which holds names familiar to most consumers – the likes of Alphabet, Apple, Mastercard and Nike. It is also America-centric with 80 per cent of the assets in companies listed in the US. There are no British holdings.

‘When you are looking to invest in growth companies,’ says Mortimer, ‘the opportunity set in the UK and Europe is restricted. Also, because there are few such companies in these markets, their valuations tend to be expensive compared to US rivals.’

While Mortimer is thrilled with the way the fund has performed, he is not complacent. ‘Nothing is a given in the investment world,’ he says. ‘But a good starting point to successful investment is identifying growth themes. If you can then find the companies best positioned to benefit from these themes, you put yourself in a good position.’

The fund has annual ongoing charges of 0.84 per cent. Page and Mortimer also oversee a global equity income mandate for Guinness Global Investors, a business with assets in excess of £7billion.