Aegon Ethical Equity Fund GBP B Acc


March 2026
 
  • Opinion
    Square Mile rating
  • Performance
    3 years annualised returns
    6.06%
    % of time met performance objective over 5 years
    56.7%
  • Risks
    Risk of asset class
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
    Risk of fund within asset class
    1 2 3 4 5
  • Costs
    Ongoing charges
    0.77%
    Transaction costs
    0.09%
    Total cost of investment
    0.86%
  • Responsible
    What type of investor are you?

Source: Square Mile and LSEG Lipper (all rights reserved), Data as at: 31st January 2026.

Overview

The focus of the fund is on growing the capital value of investments over time through a portfolio of UK equities, which meet the fund's strict ethical criteria. Whilst equities can lose money over short to medium time periods, over longer time periods, and particularly over multiple investment cycles, equities, in aggregate, have proved an extremely successful way of accumulating capital.

 

Square Mile’s Expected Outcome

We believe that this fund should be able to outperform the FTSE All Share index by at least 1% per annum over rolling five year periods, whilst following a strict ethical screening policy.

Square Mile’s Opinion

This fund is invested in line with some very strict ethical requirements and so it is important to note from the outset how these impact the strategy's investment universe and its performance. For example, firms within the oil & gas, pharmaceutical & biotechnology, aerospace & defence, food & drug retail and tobacco sectors all tend to be completely excluded. Not all companies in certain sectors are removed, as it depends upon how they stack up against the fund's criteria, but nevertheless, many of the banks, mining and beverage names also fall foul of the screening process. For the same reasons there is likely to be an increased exposure to other sectors, such as consumer services, general financials, technology and industrials. The fund's lack of exposure to aerospace & defence, tobacco and banks such as HSBC has been a headwind in 2025.

For more information upon the fund's ethical standards please see the Responsible Investment section below.

A consequence of the ethical screening implemented is that the fund is likely to have a structural bias to medium and smaller sized companies, as many of the UK's larger sized firms are removed. This can also result in a natural tilt to growing firms, as smaller businesses are likely to have higher growth rates than larger ones. As such, the fund's performance can, at times, be very different to that of the broader market. The main reason we like this strategy is because we believe that its 'dark green' approach sets it apart from many of its ethical peers, which may use a slightly more subjective framework or looser guidelines. Furthermore, it is supported by an experienced and competent investment team, who also benefit from interaction with the firm's expertise in other asset classes.

Fund Manager’s Formal Objective

The investment objective is to provide a combination of income and capital growth over any seven-year period.

Capital Accumulation UK
Active IA UK All Companies
Equity IA UK All Companies
2.24% £529M
Audrey Ryan November
2.6 Pounds Annual
GBP 17/04/1989
2.6 Pounds 31/07/2025
0.00% -
- -

Source: Square Mile and LSEG Lipper (all rights reserved), Data as at: 31st January 2026
 
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Aegon Ethical Equity Fund GBP B Acc
 
 

Asset Manager Overview

Aegon Asset Management is a global investment management business which is part of the Aegon Group. They are active investment managers and offer investment solutions to clients across fixed income, real estate, equity and multi-asset strategies. The team responsible for this fund are based in Edinburgh.

Fund Manager/Team Overview

The fund has been managed by Audrey Ryan since January 1999, who joined the firm in 1997 from General Accident, where she had been a UK smaller companies investment manager. Ms Ryan works within the wider UK equity team at Aegon Asset Management, where she works alongside five investment managers, with fund management and analyst roles combined. Ms Ryan is also supported by six colleagues who focus on ESG research.

Investment Philosophy & Process Overview

This fund is managed using a very strict set of ethical criteria. From the outset a largely quantitative, negative screening process is applied to the FTSE All Share and AIM Indices in order to exclude companies on the basis of their business activities. These screens are overseen by the ESG (environmental, social and governance issues) team, which sits separately and is responsible for the analysis of relevant issues in these areas.

The fund's investment philosophy does not adhere to a specific style of investing but aims to be pragmatic. However, due to the nature of the investable universe there has historically been a bias to growth companies. Investment ideas are generated from a number of sources, including company meetings, team knowledge, quantitative screening and macro/thematic developments. Regarding the latter, there is a monthly global and UK strategy meeting to help provide a top-down perspective on the UK market. Once a potential idea is identified the investment process focuses on three key areas, namely fundamentals, valuation and technicals. In terms of fundamentals, a company is examined from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective, where macroeconomic and sector influences are reviewed alongside the company's management, business model and financial statements. When valuing a firm, the team uses broadly standard financial metrics to discover what is already priced into the market. Finally, technical analysis is used to review earnings and price momentum as well as director dealing, which helps to time investment decisions. The importance of each factor in the investment process may alter based on changes in the economic or business cycle.

The fund typically comprises of between 50 and 70 stocks and there are no formal stock or sector constraints. However, it is unlikely that the manager would build a position of more than 4% over a company's weight in the FTSE All Share Index. Position sizes will be a reflection of conviction, risk and the liquidity profile of a stock. The portfolio may also hold up to 20% in cash and non-UK listed holdings, the former of which can be used to help provide protection in more difficult markets conditions and the latter of which can be used to diversify and broaden exposure.

 
 
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Aegon Ethical Equity Fund GBP B Acc
 
 

ESG Integration

Fund ESG Integration

Aegon Asset Management (AAM) has been managing ethical funds for over 25 years. It offers investors a range of strategies, all of which must meet strict ethical requirements. The fund's potential investment universe is put through an ethical screen, which combines an external screen from EIRIS, a leading global provider of ESG research, with a proprietary in-house one. This screen removes companies that are either completely or heavily involved in activities deemed to be unethical or that have a negative impact on the environment or society at large, such as animal testing, nuclear power, alcohol and genetic engineering. This screen will also contain a controversies review. The managers then use this output, along with the views of the firm's ESG research team who also supervise the screening process and help inform all investment decisions.

​Further to this, AAM's investment teams are dynamic responsible investors, and have a commitment to active stewardship of assets on behalf of clients. They will actively vote at AGMs and engage with companies to improve ESG standards when necessary.

 
 
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Aegon Ethical Equity Fund GBP B Acc
 
 

Responsible Investing Approach

The fund's potential investment universe is put through a ethical screen, which combines an external screen from EIRIS (a leading global provider of ESG research), with one that has been developed internally. This combined screen removes companies that are either completely or heavily involved in activities deemed to be unethical or that have a negative impact on the environment or society at large. These include, but are not limited to animal testing, nuclear power, alcohol and genetic engineering. This screen will also contain a controversies review. The managers use this output alongside the views from the firm's ESG research team, who also supervise the screening process and help inform all investment decisions made for this strategy.

Risk Summary

This fund invests in UK equities and as such the main risk is that these, as higher risk assets, can be volatile investments. The strategy follows a strict set of ethical screening criteria, which means that it is likely to be wholly absent from certain sectors. As many of the UK's larger companies do not meet these standards, it also means that the fund is likely to have an ongoing bias to medium and smaller sized companies, which are typically more volatile than their larger peers. Furthermore, we would note that the fund's relatively restricted opportunity set, as defined by the screening process, could mean that it may fail to keep pace with some of its competitors when companies that do not form part of its investible universe rally strongly. Consequently, the fund may be more suitable for investors with a longer time investment horizon who are not seeking index like returns.

 

Additional Information

6.06%
14.24%
-14.66%
20.86%
-7.64%
0.30
0.27

(3 years data to last month end unless otherwise stated)

Qualitative Risk Assessment

Significant Potentially Significant Not Significant

For the full summary of the risks, click here
 
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Aegon Ethical Equity Fund GBP B Acc
 
 
 

Calendar Year Performance To Quarter End

Period Fund (%) Sector (%)
2025 2.4 14.8
2024 7.2 7.9
2023 14.9 7.2
2022 -22.4 -9.3
2021 16.3 17.1

Source: Square Mile and LSEG Lipper (all rights reserved), Data as at: 30th March 2026

Value for Money

The fund's low administration expenses mean that the ongoing charge figure (OCF) is significantly below the peer group median, as are the costs involved with trading activity (transaction costs). Therefore, in our opinion, the fund's total cost of investment is both an attractive and a fair one. However, we do acknowledge that in the groups 2024 Assessment of Value report, the fund was flagged as Amber for investment performance, leading to an overall amber rating for the strategy. 

Overall, we believe that this fund offers fair value for money, especially when one considers the fact that it is managed using a strict set of ethical criteria which screen out large swathes of the market, and that it is a well-established franchise, run by a high conviction and experienced manager.

OCF v Peer Group

0.77%
Transaction Costs v Peer Group

0.09%
TCI v Peer Group

0.86%

Source: Square Mile and LSEG Lipper (all rights reserved), Data as at: 31st January 2026.
 
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Aegon Ethical Equity Fund GBP B Acc
 
 

Square Mile Analysts

Martin Ward - Senior Investment Research Analyst

John Monaghan - Research Director

Rating Changes

The Square Mile ratings are reviewed every 6 months. For full details on the methodologies, click here.
For a full list of all Square Mile rated funds, click here.

Rating Changes over last 12 months Time & Date rating changed
 

Disclaimer

This document is issued by Square Mile Investment Consulting and Research Limited which is registered in England and Wales (08791142) and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan Wealth Holdings Limited (Registered Address: 101 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 1QU).

Unless otherwise agreed by Square Mile, this factsheet is only for internal use by the permitted recipients and shall not be published or be provided to any third parties. This factsheet is for the use of professional advisers and other regulated firms only and should not be relied upon by any other persons. It is published by, and remains the copyright of, Square Mile Investment Consulting and Research Ltd (“SM”). SM makes no warranties or representations regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein. This information represents the views and forecasts of SM at the date of issue but may be subject to change without reference or notification to you. SM does not offer investment advice or make recommendations regarding investments and nothing in this factsheet shall be deemed to constitute financial or investment advice in any way and shall not constitute a regulated activity for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. This factsheet shall not constitute or be deemed to constitute an invitation or inducement to any person to engage in investment activity. Should you undertake any investment activity based on information contained herein, you do so entirely at your own risk and SM shall have no liability whatsoever for any loss, damage, costs or expenses incurred or suffered by you as a result. SM does not accept any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistencies herein. Unless indicated, all figures are sourced by LSEG Lipper (all rights reserved). Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

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