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- The Fund’s consumer discretionary names led August’s long book contributors, with Shopify and Trip.com among the highlights.
- Long book additions include Vestas Wind Systems – added after recent US renewable energy legislation was more favourable than anticipated – and Firefly Aerospace, an exciting play on the evolving space economy.
- With concentration risk, valuation and profit margins all sitting at record high levels, we continue to believe that overall equity returns could be subdued – shining a light on the benefits of long/short investing in generating alpha.
The Liontrust GF Global Alpha Long Short Fund returned 0.3% in US dollar terms in August, compared with the 0.3% return of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate reference benchmark and the 1.5% return of the HFRX Equity Hedge (USD) Index, also a reference benchmark.
Portfolio review
Both net and gross exposures remained at the low end of the Fund’s range over the month.
The largest contribution on the long side came from Zinka (+36% in US dollar terms), an Indian logistics name we added in July which provides digital platforms for truck operators. Alphabet (+11%), which remains one of our favourite under-appreciated Magnificent Seven names, was also a top contributor after a federal judge ruled that Google would not be forced to sell Chrome, the source of a significant overhang for the stock.
Consumer discretionary names overall performed well with Shopify (+16%) and Trip.com (+19%)highlights in the month.
On the negative side, long name Coinbase (-19%) detracted as it gave back some of its strong gains from June and July following a lacklustre set of results. Despite the lack of a convincing upgrade from results, Coinbase remains our preferred play on the crypto space and a core holding in our crypto basket.
The short book’s positive contributors included positions in a US salad bar chain, an enterprise AI IT company, and a digital media buying platform, all of which benefitted from strong sell offs in the underlying shares.
Portfolio changes
Notable new additions in August include Vestas Wind Systems and the IPO of Firefly Aerospace.
Vestas is well-positioned to benefit from a significant policy-driven tailwind following a better-than-expected outcome from recent U.S. renewable energy legislation. Updated guidance on tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act proved far more favourable than anticipated, extending eligibility and easing compliance requirements, which has already renewed confidence in US order momentum. With a robust €67.3 billion backlog, including a high-margin service segment targeting 25% operating margins by 2026, and a growing US footprint to capture accelerating demand, Vestas combines strong fundamentals with operational improvements that support margin expansion. The removal of regulatory uncertainty in one of its largest markets transforms a key risk into a powerful growth catalyst, positioning Vestas for sustained profitability and long-term value creation.
Firefly Aerospace is an exciting play on the evolving space economy, designing and developing launch vehicles and spacecraft solutions. Firefly is set to capitalise on the significant and growing demand for satellite launches with a differentiated product in a supply constrained arena. It should begin generating cash in 2026 and be EBITDA positive by 2027.
Outlook
We believe the outlook for the rest of 2025 offers an exciting opportunity for active management and alternative equity strategies; with concentration risk, valuation and profit margins all sitting at record high levels over many years, it is clear that overall equity returns are going to be harder to achieve and this should shine a light on the benefits of long/short equity investing.
Our base case is that equity markets globally remain little changed in the second half of 2025 but that the polarisation of winners and losers will remain significant. For the first time in many years, stock selection outside the very biggest companies in the world will matter as will geographical diversification. In this environment, the overall market returns matter less, but we worry that many will remain stranded in the trades that led the last ten years rather than those that will lead over the next ten.
Thematically, we remain positive on the potential for AI to drive significant benefits across all industries. We continue to believe it is best to focus on identifying winners in AI use cases, rather than invest in the infrastructure providers that run a risk of running into a capacity glut.
We have waited patiently for the crypto world to unfold and the IPO of Circle Internet could act as a Chat GPT moment for Stablecoins. This will benefit the entire blockchain/crypto supply chain and, together with fintech, remains a key theme for the rest of this year.
Discrete years' performance (%)* to previous quarter-end:
| Jun-25 | Jun-24 | Jun-23 | Jun-22 | Jun-21 |
Liontrust GF Global Alpha Long Short B8 Acc USD | 13.6% | 20.1% | -10.2% | -3.5% | 45.8% |
FRB of New York Secured Overnight Financial Rate | 4.7% | 5.3% | 3.8% | 0.2% | |
HFRX Equity Hedge | 7.0% | 9.1% | 4.6% | -0.9% | 20.4% |
Source: FE Analytics, as at 30.06.25, total return, net of fees and income reinvested. *The Fund was launched on 24 January 2025 to receive the assets of GAM Star Alpha Technology, which was a sub-fund of GAM Star plc (“the merging fund”), which was very similar to the Fund. Because of the similarities between the merging fund and the Fund, the past performance of GAM Star Alpha Technology C Acc - EUR share class has been used for periods prior to the Fund’s launch date.
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