The last year has represented a return to outperformance for the managers, as well as marking another very strong performance in absolute terms. Notwithstanding the gains, the managers remain positive on prospects based on fundamentals and valuations. They observe that in contrast to most global equities, which are hitting all-time highs in terms of historical valuation ranges, they believe their companies remain within the mid-cycle range with valuation very attractive at current commodity price level. As well as attractive valuations, the team report being bullish on fundamentals. They believe that periods of synchronised global growth are almost always good for commodity prices. As such, they have been continuing to add to their allocations to mid and small caps, but for the core of the portfolio maintain their holding in large-cap “self-help” companies that are deleveraging and have high-quality assets with good free cashflow. They continue to believe that the sector is under-owned, and that investors still (in their view, wrongly) doubt management’s capital allocation discipline. The managers tell us that market expectations for many companies they own are on the conservative side, and that if commodity prices hold their current levels, they expect earnings upgrades in the order of 30-80%, which – should it prove to be true – would provide a catalyst for strong performance in share price terms. Commodities are notoriously volatile, however, and forecasts are clearly not guarantees. The board have recently announced the final dividend (now payable quarterly), which will mean a full year – covered – payout of 15.6p per share for 2017. The yield of 4.1% compares to Global Equity Income trusts (average yield 3.7%) and the IA Global Equity Income sector, which currently has an average yield of 3.1%. The trust’s discount has remained resolutely wider than the 10% level.