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WS Guinness Global Energy Fund

The Guinness Global Energy strategy seeks capital growth through exposure to global energy markets.

Overview

The Guinness Global Energy strategy seeks capital growth through exposure to global energy markets.

We believe that over the next twenty years the combined effects of population growth, developing world industrialisation and diminishing fossil fuel supplies will force energy prices higher.

The world's population is growing at a rate of 1% per year and is projected to rise over the next 20 years by 1.5 billion people. Over 90% of this growth will come from developing countries. The implications for energy consumption are profound. In China and India, among the world's largest and fastest-growing economies, growing demand for electricity, cars and consumer goods will have a significant impact on the world's energy balance.

The rise in global energy demand is projected to continue long into the future. And it is highly likely that the majority of this demand will be met by mainstream energy sources like oil, natural gas and coal, supported by growth in renewable technologies.

Meanwhile, the risk that energy supplies fall short of what is required over the next few years is intensifying as, in particular, the era of low-cost, easily extractable oil comes to an end. The non-OPEC world, despite the success of shale oil in the US, struggles to grow production consistently. Any spare production capacity that OPEC countries may have today is likely to decline quickly as they respond to the expected rise in demand and shortfalls caused by events such as civil war or sanctions. Put simply, the oil industry faces a huge challenge to build up new supplies of oil to compensate for the rapid decline in existing fields.

The combination of growing demand and supply challenges signals that energy prices will move up over time. This would create a favourable environment for companies with energy reserves and for their service providers and distributors. 

Investment Team

High quality funds are run by high quality people.

We are proud of our collegial culture, with teams across the business benefiting from each other’s expertise as they target long-term returns for investors.

Will Riley

Will Riley

Portfolio Manager, Specialist Team

Jonathan Waghorn

Jonathan Waghorn

Portfolio Manager, Specialist Team

How to Invest

We aim to make it simple to invest in our funds. All our funds are open to direct investment via an application form. They are widely available on investment platforms and are eligible for UK investors’ ISAs and SIPPs.

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How to Invest in Guinness Global Investors

Investment Case

Our stock selection is driven 50% by our top-down (macro) views and 50% by bottom-up stock analysis.

Rigorous independent analysis of the fundamental drivers of energy markets (e.g. oil supply and demand; OPEC behaviour; natural gas supply and demand; global LNG market; thermal and met coal markets). This allows us to forecast energy commodity prices and creates our top-down view, which in turn informs our energy sub-sector allocation.

Stock ideas are derived from a disciplined stock screening process. We review a universe of around 370 energy stocks each week to identify companies which look attractive on valuation, return on investment, earnings sentiment, and price momentum. Other screens specific to certain sub-sectors are also employed. Due diligence is performed on our stock ideas to establish whether we have conviction to include the stock in our portfolio. The due diligence centres around detailed financial modelling.

The portfolio comprises 30 'best ideas' and does not follow any benchmark in its sub-sector weights, such as to ‘super-majors’. The portfolio is liquid, with 90% of the Fund normally invested in companies with a market capitalisation over US $1 billion.

 

In brief: why invest in energy?

Energy demand

Population growth and rising global wealth are driving relentless growth in the consumption of energy.
 

Energy supply

Despite improvements in alternative energy supplies, fossil fuels will remain the predominant world energy source for decades to come. However, the era of easily accessible, low-cost oil is over.
 

Energy company profits

Rising demand and depletion of low-cost energy supplies will push energy prices higher. This will create a favourable environment for companies with resource reserves, as well as their service providers and distributors.
 

Energy & inflation

Energy prices are a significant driver of inflation, which makes energy companies a useful long-term inflation hedge. If we see dollar inflation of 30-50% over the next decade (that’s just 2.7-4.3% per year), it will be surprising if oil and gas prices do not rise by a comparable percentage.
 

In detail: Energy Investment Case

“More motor vehicles will be sold over the next 20 years than have been sold in the entire history of the automobile industry.”

Supply is struggling to keep pace

High oil and natural gas prices between 2006 and 2014 incentivised energy companies to invest in new technologies, resulting in strong natural gas and oil production from unconventional shale resources in North America. This growth caused a change of production strategy from OPEC at the end of 2014, and this has led to sharply lower oil prices as OPEC grows production and defends market share while North American production starts to slow. We believe that OPEC is now producing near maximum capacity, while non-OPEC production will decline in the future as a result of lower investment levels. The industry still faces a big challenge in delivering reasonable oil supply growth at reasonable prices.
 

Favourable environment for investing in energy

The combination of growing demand and inadequate future supply signals that oil and other energy prices will move up over time. This would create a very favourable environment for companies with energy resources and for their service providers and distributors.

The Guinness Global Energy Fund seeks to capitalise on this energy price environment. We keep coming back to one key proposition: easily extractable oil and gas assets remain scarce, and it seems reasonable to believe that, as they get scarcer, they will trade at higher prices than we have yet seen. We believe shareholders in energy companies that are part of that world will be duly rewarded.
 

Surging demand for energy from developing countries

The world's population is growing at a rate of 1% per year, and is projected by the UN to rise by a further 20% (1.5 billion people) by 2030. Over 90% of this growth will come from developing countries. The implications for energy consumption are profound.

More motor vehicles will be sold over the next 20 years than have been sold throughout the entire history of the automobile industry. The surge of demand for electricity, cars and consumer goods in emerging markets will have a significant impact on the world's energy balance. China’s demand for oil per capita has not yet reached that of the OECD in 1950. There are 20 years of unrelenting oil demand growth to come as China’s vehicle fleet moves from 100 million now to 400 million by 2030, with numerous other countries following behind.

The rise in global energy demand is projected to continue long into the future. It is likely that the majority of this demand will be met by mainstream energy sources like oil, natural gas and coal.

The world’s oil consumption currently stands at around 94 million barrels per day, and continues to reach new highs each year. Even in the global recession of 2008/09, demand for oil from emerging markets continued to grow. We think that, over the next 10 years, global oil demand growth of 10-15 million barrels per day is highly plausible.

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Investment Process - Global Energy Fund

Investment process

Our stock selection is driven 50% by our top-down (macro) views and 50% by bottom-up stock analysis. The top-down views shape our energy sub-sector allocation, whilst bottom-up analysis is designed to identify the best stocks to populate our sub-sector allocation. The investment team applies a mixture of value and growth investing, with a bias towards value.

Top-down views

Rigorous independent analysis of the fundamental drivers of energy markets (e.g. oil supply and demand; OPEC behaviour; natural gas supply and demand; global LNG market; thermal and met coal markets). This allows us to forecast energy commodity prices and creates our top-down view, which in turn informs our energy sub-sector allocation.

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Top down views - Guinness Global Energy

Bottom-up stock screening

The team operates a disciplined stock screening process. We review a universe of around 370 energy stocks each week to identify companies which look attractive on valuation, return on investment, earnings sentiment, and price momentum. Other screens specific to certain sub-sectors are also employed to generate ideas.
 

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Bottom up stock screening - Guinness Global Energy Fund

Stock due diligence

Stock ideas are taken from our screens and due diligence is performed to establish whether we have conviction to include the stock in our portfolio. The due diligence centres around detailed financial modelling.

Portfolio Construction

 

Concentrated portfolio

The portfolio comprises 30 equally-weighted positions. Most of the positions comprise a single stock but a few are split across more than one stock, giving the portfolio 40-45 stocks in total. Our portfolio construction, with a fixed number of positions, is designed to create the best balance between maintaining fund concentration and managing stock-specific risk. It also imposes a structural sell discipline: an existing position must be sold to purchase a new holding.
 

Sector weights

The Fund does not follow any benchmark in its sub-sector weights. In particular, there are no underweight restrictions; the “super-major” oil and gas sector weighting may be zero.

Portfolio Risk Controls

 

Stock specific risk

Stock specific risk in the energy sector tends to be higher than the broader market. Our portfolio is designed to avoid excessive exposure to any individual stock.
 

Emerging market exposure

Normal practice is that emerging market exposure (considered by listing and by underlying asset exposure) is limited to 20% of the Fund.
 

Liquidity

The portfolio is liquid, with 90% of the Fund normally invested in companies with a market capitalisation over US $1 billion.
 

Currency

The Fund is not hedged from a currency perspective. However, because the underlying investments have an exposure to energy commodity prices, this tends to act as a natural hedge against currency movement.

 

Factsheets

 

 

Fund English French German Spanish Italian
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund Download

Updates

 

 

Document
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
August 2025
Document
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
July 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
April 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
October 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
July 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
April 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
October 2023
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
July 2023
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
April 2023
Document
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
August 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
July 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
June 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
May 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
April 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
March 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
February 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
January 2025
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
December 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
November 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
October 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
September 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
July 2024
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund
June 2024

KIIDS

 

 

Fund Class ISIN English French German Spanish Italian Swedish Finnish
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund I ACC GBP GB00B56FW078

Documents

Document

WS Guinness Global Energy Fund - Consumer Facing Disclosure

WS Guinness Global Energy Fund - Shareholder Letter

WS Guinness Global Energy Fund - Responsible Investment Factsheet

Investing with Guinness

WS Guinness Investment Funds - Target Market Assessment

WS Guinness Investment Funds – Investor Rights

WS Guinness Global Energy Fund - Reports & Accounts

Guinness Global Energy - Approach to Responsible Investment & ESG

WS Global Energy Fund - Prospectus

WS Guinness Global Energy Fund - Application Form

Fund Facts

For information on the Fund’s current investments, please see the latest factsheet available on the literature tab above.

 

Launch Date
Fund managers
Jonathan Waghorn
Will Riley
Tim Guinness
Benchmark
MSCI World Energy Index
IA sector
IA Commodities and Natural Resources
Structure
Unit Trust (UCITS)
Domicile
UK
Underlying currency
Pounds Sterling
Pricing
Daily, forwards
Valuation
1200 UK time
Deal cut off time
1200 UK time
Administrator
Waystone Management (UK) Limited
Custodian
The Bank of New York Mellon (International) Limited
UK Reporting Fund status
Yes
ISA Eligible
Yes

Share Classes

For full information on the share classes available for investment please refer to the Key Investor Information document.

 

Class OCF Max Initial Charge Min Investment ISIN SEDOL Bloomberg
I Acc 0.95% 0% 1000 GB00B56FW078 B56FW07 ARTGLEI LN

Share Prices

The Funds are priced every working day at 12.00 UK time and updated here the following day.

 

Fund Name ISIN Fund Price (+/-) Date
WS Guinness Global Energy Fund I Accumulation GB00B56FW078 49.7600 0.5400

Guinness Global Energy - Webcast

Date: July 10, 2025 02:00 PM [BST] Will Riley & Jonathan Waghorn

Guinness Global Energy - Webcast - Covering Q1 2025

Date: April 10, 2025 02:00 PM [GMT] Will Riley & Jonathan Waghorn

Trustnet - Schroder’s Kirrage: Oil will not stray from its long-term natural price of $80 a barrel

The future of oil might have already been written.

Global Energy - 2025 Outlook

Portfolio manager Jonathan Waghorn looks at what is to come in global energy markets this year.…

Guinness Global Energy - Webcast - Covering Q4 2024

Date: January 16, 2025 02:00 PM [GMT] Will Riley & Jonathan Waghorn

Trustnet - Is this a good time to revisit out-of-favour oil stocks?

Half of UK equity income funds hold Shell in their top 10 and the same is true for BP; Trustnet…

Guinness Global Energy - Webcast - Covering Q3 2024

Date: October 17, 2024 02:00 PM [BST] Will Riley & Jonathan Waghorn

Guinness Global Energy - Webcast - Covering Q2 2024

Date: July 18, 2024 2:00 PM [BST]Jonathan Waghorn & Will Riley

Guinness Global Energy Fund - Webcast - Covering Q1 2024

Date: April 17, 2024 11:00 AM [BST]Will Riley & Jonathan Waghorn

 

WS Guinness Global Energy Fund is an equity fund. Investors should be willing and able to assume the risks of equity investing. The Fund invests only in companies involved in the energy sector; it is therefore susceptible to the performance of that one sector, and can be volatile. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise as a result of market and currency movement; you may not get back the amount originally invested. For full information on the risks, please refer to the Prospectus and KIID for the Fund, which are available on our website (guinnessgi.com/literature). If you decide to invest, you will be buying units/shares in the Fund and will not be investing directly in the underlying assets of the Fund. Past performance does not predict future returns.

Source: FE fundinfo. Net of fees. Investors should note that fees and expenses are charged to the capital of the Fund. This reduces the return on your investment by an amount equivalent to the Ongoing Charges Figure (OCF). The OCF for the Y share class is 0.95%. Returns for share classes with a different OCF will vary accordingly. Transaction costs also apply and are incurred when a fund buys or sells holdings. The performance returns do not reflect any initial charge; any such charge will also reduce the return. Graph data is in USD from 31.03.08.