Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed Growth fund: April 2026 update

• This fund’s managed by an experienced team that’s passionate about sustainability

• They avoid ‘sin stocks’ and invest in shares and bonds issued by companies they consider to be making a positive environmental or social difference

• The fund can perform quite differently to peers over the short-term

• This fund doesn’t currently feature on the Wealth Shortlist of funds chosen by our analysts for their long-term performance potential

How it fits in a portfolio

The Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed Growth fund aims to deliver capital growth over the long term by investing in the shares of companies from all over the world.

The fund excludes areas some may find unethical, such as tobacco, coal and armaments and invests mostly in companies making a positive difference to the environment or society with high levels of governance.

It’s part of Liontrust’s range of multi-asset funds that invest in shares, bonds and cash. It has more invested in shares than other funds in the range, making it higher risk.

The exclusions and style of investing means it can perform differently to peers, sometimes for prolonged periods, which is why it’s not currently on the Wealth Shortlist.

That said, we think it’s a good option for investors focused on sustainability, and those with long-term investment horizons. The fund could form the core of an adventurously invested sustainable portfolio, or provide some growth potential to a more conservative portfolio.

Manager

The fund’s run by three investment managers: Peter Michaelis, Simon Clements and Chris Foster.

Michaelis joined Aviva in 2000 and has managed the fund since launch in February 2001. He’s been head of the Sustainable Investment team since 2005 and manages all funds in the range. He’s also managed the Liontrust Sustainable Future UK Equity and Global Growth funds since 2001.

Clements also joined Aviva in 2000 and has managed the fund since launch in February 2001. He was Head of Global Equities at Aviva prior to moving with the team to Alliance Trust Investments in 2012. He’s also managed the Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth fund since 2010 and manages all other funds in the range.

Foster joined the team in 2015 as part of the graduate trainee scheme at Alliance Trust Investments. He began managing the Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth fund in 2020 and this fund in 2023.

The managers also use the Sustainable Future Fixed Income team at Liontrust to select bonds for the fund. Given the small amount invested in bonds for this particular fund, this has less of an impact on fund performance compared to other funds in the range.

The team can also draw on an Independent Advisory Committee, which is an external panel of sustainability experts who provide feedback on the investment process, highlight areas for improvement and act as an additional level of oversight.

The very long tenure of two of the fund’s managers is something we view positively - it’s rare for two managers to work together for over 25 years. We also view having a variety of different levels of experience on the team positively and think it helps with future succession planning.

Process

The fund is part of Liontrust’s Sustainable Future range of funds. These funds aim to help create a cleaner, safer and healthier society for the future and generate attractive returns for investors. The managers believe investing in sustainable companies provides greater return potential, and less risk, than other companies, and that many other investors fail to value the sustainability of a business correctly.

Sustainability and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) analysis is fully integrated into the team’s investment process. They aim to identify companies whose core products or services make a positive contribution to society or the environment.

The fund also uses negative screening. This means it won’t invest in any company that makes more than 5% of its revenues from animal testing services, coal, oil & gas, gambling, intensive meat and fish farming, ozone depleting substances, pornography, tobacco or weapons systems. Nuclear and alcohol companies are screened according to strict criteria.

In addition to the sustainability part of the process, the managers have a growth-focused approach. They start by looking for companies whose products and services are needed, not just today, but a long way into the future. In addition, the managers believe that companies who help solve problems, while trying to develop themselves and their products in a more sustainable way, will be more successful than those fighting against these positive trends. This combination helps them identify which companies to invest in, but also which ones to avoid.

This also leads the managers to invest more in mid-sized companies than some peers, because these companies have the potential to grow into larger companies.

Over time this fund usually invests around 90% into global equities, 5% into corporate bonds and 5% into cash. The amount invested in shares means it’s a higher risk option compared to others in the range.

At the end of March 2026, the fund invested 88.4% in global equities, 3.5% in UK equities, 5.4% in corporate bonds and 2.7% in cash.

The managers have the flexibility to invest in smaller companies and derivatives which adds risk if used.

Culture

Liontrust gives managers the freedom to manage their funds according to their own investment and market views. The company simply asks managers not to deviate from their investment processes. Each manager's funds are regularly checked by other senior managers at Liontrust to ensure they're staying true to their investment processes.

We like that all Liontrust fund managers invest a significant amount of their own money into the funds they run, and their incentivisation is tied to the performance of the funds they manage. We think these factors help to align their interests with those of investors.

ESG Integration

The quality of ESG integration varies across Liontrust. The firm gives fund managers the freedom to run their portfolios according to their own investment and market views. The company simply asks managers not to deviate from their investment processes.

The firm’s Sustainable Future range of equity, fixed income and multi-asset funds incorporate ESG analysis and invest to achieve positive change. Every team member is responsible for all aspects of financial and ESG analysis – ESG analysis is not farmed out to a separate team. The team produces regular insight articles, available via the Liontrust website. They also produce a Responsible Capitalism report, which explores the team’s views on a variety of sustainability-related issues.

The firm publicly discloses all voting decisions on a quarterly basis, although no rationales are provided.

From April 2025, the fund adopted a Sustainability Focus label under the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements set out by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Cost

This fund has an ongoing annual charge of 0.86%.

We recently made some changes to the amount clients pay to invest with us. Find out more about these changes.

The HL platform fee of up to 0.35% per year also applies, except in the HL Junior ISA, where no platform fee applies.

Performance

Michaelis has managed the fund since launch in 2001 and over that time it’s returned 295.23%* to the end of March 2026, ahead of its peers in the IA Flexible sector that have returned 261.64% on average. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

The sustainable investment philosophy means that the fund is likely to perform differently to non-sustainably invested peers over shorter-time periods. The growth and mid-cap style biases can also cause performance to vary compared to peers. As a result, investors should be aware that this fund has the potential to perform differently to peers and potentially for prolonged periods of time.

Over the 12 months to the end of March 2026, the fund returned 0.67% compared to the IA Flexible sector’s return of 12.37%. The fund’s exclusions were a headwind to performance compared to non-sustainable peers. The fund had more invested in healthcare, which underperformed compared to other areas of global stock markets. The fund also has no investments within the energy sector, which outperformed broader stock markets.

The fund’s investments in technology also detracted from performance. Many of its technology stocks are linked to software that has been impacted by developments in artificial intelligence (AI). This is an area which has potential to see a lot of disruption from AI, but there are also a lot of unknowns. As a result of the uncertainty, share prices fell.

The fund also isn’t invested in Nvidia which has performed well.

We think that for adventurous investors who want to invest sustainably and mainly in shares, this fund is a good option. The sustainability criteria applied to the investment process is one of the best available. However, performance will vary compared to non-sustainable peers at times.