FUND MANAGER Q&A:BRENDAN MORAN, Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), www.ilim.com

Brendan Moran heads up the equity team in ILIM which manages the Dynamic Global Value Fund. Since joining the investment company in 1991, Mr Moran has managed a number of different equity portfolios.

What is your investment approach?

The Dynamic Global Value Fund is a global equity fund and contains about 100 stocks across all geographic regions. We adopt a dynamic approach to value investing. We have a team of sector analysts that conducts fundamental equity research to identify companies that are trading at a discount to their true worth, and we populate the portfolio with these stocks. People tend to become somewhat attached to shares when they’ve done well, but we adhere to a strict sell discipline to ensure that we realise value.

We are agnostic from a regional perspective, but at the moment we are underweight in US stocks and overweight in Europe.

How has your fund performed?

The fund was launched in late 2008 in response to the unprecedented value opportunities perceived to be in equity markets at that point in time. Last year was a very good year for equity markets in general and a great year for this fund insofar as we generated returns significantly in excess of broad equity markets. The fund returned 45.6 per cent in 2009, which was ahead of the MSCI World benchmark return of 26.7 per cent. So far in 2010, the fund has generated a return in excess of 10 per cent, and that’s modestly ahead of the benchmark.

What is your outlook?

We believe we’re in the very early stages of a cyclical recovery, which bodes very well for equity markets. However, valuations are a little extended right now after the recent very strong run we’ve seen in equity markets, particularly over the last number of weeks. The good news is that there is still very good value to be had in better-quality large cap stocks at the moment.

In conversation with Caroline Madden