The Dividend Growth Fund is currently yielding approximately 3% and has grown its distribution by approximately 8% in excess of inflation over the last decade. This makes the fund an ideal equity building block for retirement planning. The fund also has a 4 Plexcrown rating for risk adjusted performance.

After a rocky start to the year the Dividend Growth Fund has rebounded strongly and has continued to deliver exceptional performance from both an income and capital growth perspective. For the quarter the fund increased its distribution by 16.7% (aided by a special dividend paid by MMI) and produced a total return of 4.4%. Once again the fund's relatively high level of capital growth was driven by impressive financial results from a number of its core holdings. Over the 3 month period British American Tobacco (9.7% holding) and MTN (8.4% holding) reported a 26% and 20% increase in their interim dividends respectively, and both Bidvest (8.5% holding) and AVI (8.5% holding) reported a 15% increase in their full year dividends.

In the short term share price movements are often influenced by human emotions but over the long term income growth is the biggest driver of capital value growth when it comes to equity investing. Consequently, the Marriott Dividend Growth Fund has been exclusively invested in the shares of companies which provide basic necessities or offer value to consumers. These companies have track records demonstrating an ability to grow their profits and dividends irrespective of interest rate or business cycles. This focus on reliable dividend growth is essential when trying to provide investors with an acceptable investment outcome with a high degree of certainty in a subdued economic environment.

The Dividend Growth Fund is currently yielding approximately 3% and has grown its distribution by approximately 8% in excess of inflation over the last decade. This makes the fund an ideal equity building block for retirement planning. The fund also has a 4 Plexcrown rating for risk adjusted performance.

The second quarter of 2014 provided investors with a significantly less volatile experience from a purely price perspective in comparison to the first quarter of the year. For the three month period the fund produced a total return of 6.1%. The improved performance can be attributed to a continuation of solid financial results reported by a number of the fund's underlying investments.

In the short term share price movements are often influenced by human emotions but over the long term income growth is the biggest driver of price growth when it comes to equity investing. Consequently, the Marriott Dividend Growth Fund has been exclusively invested in the shares of companies which provide basic necessities or offer value to consumers. These companies have track records demonstrating an ability to grow their profits and dividends irrespective of interest rate or business cycles. This focus on reliable dividend growth is essential when trying to provide investors with an acceptable investment outcome with a high degree of certainty in a volatile investment environment.

The Dividend Growth Fund is currently yielding approximately 3% and has grown its distribution by approximately 8% in excess of inflation over the last decade. This makes the fund an ideal equity building block for retirement planning. The fund also has a 5 plexcrown rating for risk adjusted performance.

The first quarter of 2014 proved to be a volatile experience for investors in the Dividend Growth Fund, however, the fund still managed to produce a positive total return of 0.7% for investors over the 3 month period . The volatility can primarily be attributed to the surprise decision of the South African Reserve Bank to increase interest rates in January which resulted in a sell-off of companies exposed to the domestic consumer, irrespective of company track records, business modes or product offerings.

Despite being deliberately positioned for a consumer slowdown the Dividend Growth Fund lost approximately 12% of its value from the 31st of December to the 6th of February. It is in periods such as these that it is important for investor to recognise that in the short term share price movements are often driven by human emotions but that over the long term dividend growth is the biggest driver of investment value growth when it comes to equity investing. From the beginning of February to the end of March six companies held within the portfolio released their financial results.

These good results contributed to the 12% price recovery investors experienced from the 6th of February up until the 31st March and serve to highlight the resilience of the fund's current portfolio. The fund has been exclusively invested in the shares of companies which provide basic necessities or offer value to consumers. These companies have track records demonstrating an ability to grow their profits and dividends in adverse economic circumstances and we are therefore confident that the companies within the fund will continue to produce growth in dividends notwithstanding rising interest rates. This will go a long way in ensuring that investors achieve acceptable real returns over the longer term as well as reliable and consistent inflation beating distribution growth.

As a result of income growth from the portfolio's underlying securities the Dividend Growth Fund's distribution increased by 13.1% for the quarter.

The Dividend Growth Fund is currently yielding approximately 3% and has grown its distribution by approximately 8% in excess of inflation over the last decade. This makes the fund an ideal equity building block for retirement planning.

The Dividend Growth Fund produced a total return of 17.3% for the year ended 31 December 2013, slightly less than sector average of 18.9%. Over this 12 month period the share price performance of more cyclical companies compared favourably to the share price performance of companies in typically defensive industries as investor sentiment improved on the back of the US economic recovery. This divergence in performance, however, is not supported by local economic data. It is interesting to note that despite historically low interest rates, consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 2003. This does not bode well for the country's economic growth prospects as South Africa is largely dependent on household consumption for GDP growth. Consequently, the fund remains exclusively invested in companies with the ability to grow their dividends in difficult economic circumstances. This, we feel is the most sensible investment strategy to ensure continued reliable distribution growth and has allowed the fund to outperform the sector average consistently over longer time periods.

As a result of income growth from the portfolio's underlying securities the Dividend Growth Fund's distribution increased by 5.3% for the quarter. We continue to expect inflation beating distribution growth in 2014..