Healthy Companies Expected to Increase Shareholder Returns (Russell.com)

Healthy Companies Expected to Increase Shareholder Returns

AUCKLAND, September 2005 — Investors can look forward to global listed companies returning more cash to shareholders in the year ahead, resulting in increased returns, says US-based investment company, MFS Investment Management who were in New Zealand this week meeting with Russell Investment Group.

MFS International is one of the three managers in the Russell International Shares Aggressive Fund of which they manage 40% of assets.

Speaking to senior Russell Investment Group staff, Ben Kottler Vice President of MFS said over the past few years many global listed companies had restructured their businesses and balance sheets and were now in a healthy position to return dividends to shareholders.

Mr Kottler said research conducted by MFS had found there were good long term opportunities in the healthcare and consumer staples sectors, while the company had pulled back to an under weighting in the financial services and energy sectors. MFS takes a long term investment view and does not try to capture short term market ripples such as the recent oil price hikes and resultant jump in the share price of companies such as Exxon Mobil.

Russell Investment Group NZ Managing Director, Dr Edward Schuck said the analysis by MFS was good news for investors in Russell's International Shares Aggressive Fund which has seen returns of 10.3% over the past 6 months versus a benchmark return of 8.15%. The three managers in the International Shares Aggressive Fund were selected because of their complementary investment styles and willingness to act with greater conviction on their research.