M&G's Rhodes: I am not hiding in pseudo-EM plays

Manager of Global Dividend fund sells Nestlé and Coca-Cola in favour of ‘pure' emerging market exposure.

M&G’s Stuart Rhodes has been moving into ‘pure’ emerging market stocks despite acknowledging he failed to call the bottom of the sell-off. Rhodes has been selling positions in defensive stocks with EM exposure – including Nestlé and Reckitt Benckiser – since the end of last year, recycling the proceeds into pure EM plays in his £8.7bn Global Dividend fund. The strategy backfired in the first quarter of this year, the manager said, with the fund losing 6% in January alone. “January was our second worst ever month. We moved too early in to EMs, although that position has started to r...