Fund Battle: how these global income giants compare

With its US-light, value-oriented investment approach, Artemis Global Income I Inc has enjoyed a breathless run of good performance.

It has returned 45% over a single year, offers something very different from a global equity tracker, and comes with a reasonable dividend yield of 2.5%.

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Those accolades have made it a popular name among ii customers, and it duly booted a cash fund from the top of our weekly bestseller list earlier this month.

It seems there’s good reason to keep backing the fund. It has exposure to some promising sectors, from its aerospace and defence exposure to a huge allocation to financial shares. It has a longstanding fund manager, with Jacob de Tusch-Lec at the helm since it launched in July 2010.

Its investment style and penchant for shares outside the US also makes it a good diversifier against a global tracker or a classic growth fund.

But whether investors want to generate income, chase performance, simply get exposure to companies sturdy enough to pay dividends, or back a US-light fund, Artemis Global Income is not short of competition. And the global income funds out there cater to many different needs.

What is Artemis doing right?

It’s first worth explaining how the Artemis fund works. It’s deliberately contrarian, with the investment managers seeking to avoid the “usual suspects” and pick up attractively valued shares not held by funds with a similar remit.

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The team also backs companies they think can “consistently generate high levels of cash from their business operations and therefore pay reliable dividends”. The managers take a flexible approach when it comes to the regions, sectors and investment styles.

Source: Artemis Global Income, end of November.

As mentioned, for now the team is putting plenty of cash into markets outside the US.

North America accounted for 30.3% of the fund at the end of November, while its allocation to Europe (which in this case includes the UK) was on a 32.6% weighting. Emerging markets make up a quarter of the portfolio.

Just two of the fund’s top 10 holdings, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) and Kinross Gold Corp (NYSE:KGC), appear to even have a US listing, and we do get an eclectic mix of names in the list.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd DR (LSE:SMSN) is the top holding, reflecting a trend that has seen global equity funds build much greater exposure to the soaring South Korean market in the last year.

There’s also Siemens Energy AG Ordinary Shares (XETRA:ENR) in Europe, defence spending beneficiary Hanwha Aerospace, the The People's Insurance Co (Group) of China Ltd Class H (SEHK:1339), Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd DR (LSE:HHPD) and cable specialist Prysmian SpA (MTA:PRY).

Source: Artemis Global Income, end of November.

While the team could always change tack, for now the fund’s fortunes ride on factors such as the continued momentum of financials and a broad market rally continuing across different regions. There’s not too much stock-specific risk, as the top 10 holdings list shows.

What of the competition?

The Artemis team has 55 rival funds in the Investment Association’s (IA) Global Equity Income sector, with an additional six investment trusts in the equivalent Association of Investment Companies (AIC) cohort.

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That’s a lot of competition, and an overwhelming amount of choice for investors. But a glance at just a handful of the biggest names out there illustrates some of the different approaches on offer.

We looked at 10 of the biggest funds in this space, including the Artemis offering, and as the table below shows there’s an extremely wide range of returns over a 12-month stretch.

As the table below shows, Murray International Ord (LSE:MYI) has also had a great run, with the Vanguard, BNY Mellon, Fidelity and M&G funds all beating the MSCI World index.

Source: FE Analytics, as at 26/01/2026. Share price total returns given for trusts. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

Performance in the last year, both good and bad, has seemingly related to style and geographic exposure.

Take Murray International, which targets an above-average dividend yield. Like the Artemis fund, it has a contrarian bent and a value-oriented style, and tends to look past the US. About a quarter of the fund is in European shares, with only slightly less in Asia.

As with the Artemis fund, Murray International keeps quite small position sizes, meaning its preferred style, sector and regional allocations do a better job of explaining recent performance than its top holdings list.

Other top performers

Of the other strong performers, the Vanguard FTSE All World High Dividend Yield ETF USDAcc GBP (LSE:VHYG) has likely benefited from a high allocation to financials.

BNY Mellon Global Income GBP Inc has a significant allocation to US shares versus the others, with names such as Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in its top 10 list.

A fifth of the fund is in healthcare stocks, while strong performers in the top 10 include CME Group Inc Class A (NASDAQ:CME), Samsung Electronics and another defence play, BAE Systems (LSE:BA.).

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Fidelity Global Dividend W Inc looks to invest with less volatility than the MSCI World index and takes an especially low level of exposure to the US, as the table shows. Curiously, its top position is in Asian market darling Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:TSM). The stock has a dividend yield of a little more than 1%, although popular growth shares like these do tend to find their place in some income funds.

M&G Global Dividend GBP I Inc also counts TSMC in its top 10, alongside Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT). That reflects an eclectic mix of holdings that includes some tech plays but also more obvious income shares such as Imperial Brands (LSE:IMB).

Where in the world do they invest?

As the next table shows, most of the funds have less than half their portfolio in the US.

Many of these are going big on exposure to Europe, while Artemis Global Income and Murray International also have big bets on Asia.

Many of these funds could therefore work as a good complement to a global tracker fund, or an active name with a big focus on the US.

Few of these funds bet that big on the UK, a trait that should reduce overlap for investors already exposed here.

The Evenlode and Invesco funds buck this trend, while the Artemis fund does have some UK exposure badged under its ‘Europe’ allocation.

Source: latest fund factsheets.

Some of the laggards in the performance table have potential for a comeback.

Both Evenlode Global Income and Guinness Global Equity Income have a total return mindset rather than solely chasing yields, and as with the likes of Nick Train they have struggled in part because of their quality style of investing. Patient, contrarian investors might see now as a good time to back quality shares.

JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI), meanwhile, has an enhanced dividend policy that involves it paying out 4% of NAV a year. This allows it to focus on growth stocks rather than income, and it has big exposure to the US and the Magnificent Seven stocks.

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JGGI has performed especially well in recent years but did struggle in 2025.

The team put this down to style preference, noting: “This year’s market volatility has hurt the trust’s relative performance, due to its bias towards high-quality growth stocks.”

As the final table shows, JGGI’s approach at least puts it at the top of the table when it comes to dividend yield. But enhanced dividend policies do invite two risks: that the dividend will be lower when a fund struggles, and that, in extreme circumstances, a fund will be forced to sell assets in a falling market to fund its payout.

Source: Fund factsheets/AIC data for trusts. Trusts give share price dividend yield but open-ended funds give trailing 12-month yields.