With markets swinging between bursts of optimism and bouts of uncertainty, Fidelity Global Dividend is a strong defensive anchor for investors who want global equity exposure with a smoother ride in volatile markets.
Launched in 2012, the $4bn fund has been run by FE fundinfo Alpha Manager Daniel Roberts since inception, with Tristan Purcell as deputy.
The around 50-stock portfolio leans toward industrials and financials, prioritising companies with quality, resilient cashflows and sensible valuations.
It has largely proven resilient across different market backdrops, delivering top-quartile returns in 2018 and beating the IA Global Equity Income sector average in eight of the past 10 years.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Against this backdrop, Trustnet asked fund pickers to identify complementary options that could sit alongside the Fidelity fund – both for investors who want to stay defensive as volatility persists and those who wish to add a punchier vehicle to boost the long-term returns of their portfolio.
Options for the more cautious
In an environment where there are a lot of potential risks to considering, investing in something that actively tries to keep losses to a minimum is a sensible option for any portfolio.
As such, Kate Marshall, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, suggested Troy Trojan, which aims to grow investors’ money steadily over the long run, while limiting losses when markets fall.
Co-managed by Sebastian Lyon and Charlotte Yonge, Troy Trojan blends equities, bonds, gold and cash.
“The diverse mix of assets and defensive qualities means the fund has the potential to provide uncorrelated returns and additional downside protection alongside Fidelity Global Dividend,” Marshall said.
Returns over the past 10 years to 2026 have predominantly placed it in the third or fourth quartile in the IA Flexible Investment sector but drawdowns have been well contained – in both 2018 and 2022, the fund made a loss of 2.8% and 3.7% respectively, placing it in the first quartile of the sector during those periods.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Meanwhile, Paul Angell, head of investment research at AJ Bell, said investors could look to supplement the Fidelity fund with a more valuation-focused approach.
Specifically, he suggested the £344.3m Schroder Global Equity Income, noting “this would broaden the market environments the combined funds could perform in”.
The management team includes Simon Adler, who was named head of value equities at Schroders in July 2025 following the departure of Nick Kirrage.
The fund applies a disciplined value approach and picks from the cheapest quintile of global stocks.
It returned 18.5% in 2025 versus 13.5% for the index and 12.6% for the sector.
“That said, the fund’s returns can be very different to wider markets given the smaller pool of stocks investable,” said Angell.
Just 32% of the fund is invested in the US, with large regional overweights to the UK, Japan and Europe.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Richard Philbin, chief investment officer at Hawksmoor, said both BNY Mellon Global Infrastructure Income and M&G Global Dividend could serve as strong options to hold alongside Fidelity Global Dividend.
Philbin said the BNY fund could be a “great diversifier” due to its focus on global infrastructure assets. The top 10 holdings in the fund equate to over 50% of its assets.
Managed by Brock Campbell since 2024, the fund provides a historic yield of 4.2%, “with a low beta to the market and a strong performance track record”, he said.
It has a low correlation to Fidelity Global Dividend, with 45% of its assets invested in utility stocks, compared to less than 10% for the Fidelity fund.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Meanwhile, Stuart Rhodes’ £2.5bn M&G fund offers a concentrated portfolio of around 40 stocks and will invest across the market capitalisation spectrum – but generally doesn’t invest below $3bn.
“Dividends are paid quarterly, which is attractive, as Rhodes would prefer to invest in companies where dividend growth is persistent rather than a high starting yield and questionable tactics around how the dividends will be paid,” Philbin said.
It has delivered steady outperformance over the medium- to longer-term, landing in the first quartile for returns in the IA Global Equity Income sector in five of the past 10 years.
It is also notably underweight mega-cap tech, with no exposure to Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon or Tesla.
Although both the Fidelity and M&G funds are focused on dividends, they have a correlation score of 0.76 over 10 years, meaning they do still provide slight diversification from each other.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Finally, Tom Bigley, fund analyst at interactive investor, suggested holding the $7.9bn PIMCO GIS Global Investment Grade Credit Fund, noting “it can complement equity income with exposure to diversified, investment-grade credit that provides steadier income and potential downside resilience during equity market stress”.
Targeting outperformance of the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Credit index, the portfolio holds roughly two-thirds in investment-grade corporate bonds and yields 4.6%.
“It offers diversification benefits and strong income potential, while seeking to retain many of the defensive features of government bonds,” Bigley said.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Options for the more adventurous
For investors seeking an adventurous fund to pair with the more defensive Fidelity Global Dividend, Bigley suggested Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust.
Managed by FE fundinfo Alpha Manager Tom Slater and Lawrence Burns, it targets long-term growth from best-in-class innovators.
“Investing in the fast-growing and visionary companies that will be future winners can make for extreme short-term performance, both to the upside and downside,” Bigley said.
The managers can invest up to a third in sizeable private companies, such as SpaceX, ByteDance and Stripe.
Trustnet recently highlighted the trust’s long-run wealth creation and continued popularity with high-value ISA investors.
With a current gearing of 9% and a discount to NAV of around 3%, the trust suits long-term investors comfortable with amplified volatility.
It is also the least correlated with Fidelity Global Dividend over 10 years, with a score of 0.45.
Performance of the trust vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Meanwhile, Marshall selected Rathbone Global Opportunities, pointing to its “growth-focused and adventurous investment approach” and strong track record, in which it has delivered a first quartile return in five of the past 10 years.
Alpha Manager James Thompson and co-manager Sammy Dow look for companies they consider to be under the radar or those that have been shunned by other investors but still have the potential to grow over the long-term.
Unlike the Fidelity fund, around three-quarters of the fund is invested in US stocks and the top 10 includes big tech names such as Nvidia, Alphabet and Amazon.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Philbin said Blue Whale Growth pointed to Blue Whale Growth as an adventurous option to hold alongside Fidelity Global Dividend.
The 25-to-35-stock portfolio is quality-tilted, with around 70% of assets invested in the US and 45% in technology.
Led by Alpha Manager Stephen Yiu, the fund is also approaching £2bn in size, attracting £142m in 2025, with Philbin noting “the fund is maturing and this is a good sign”.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
For a punchy, growth-tilted satellite fund, Angell suggested the $12.9bn Polar Capital Global Technology.
The management team looks to unearth the next generation of technology leaders to produce a portfolio of between 60 to 70 holdings.
The fund gained 43% in 2025 – beating the IA Technology & Technology Innovation sector average 16.2%.
“It has continued this impressive outperformance over the first two months of 2026,” said Angell.
A circa 9% weighting to tech giant Nvidia is the largest holding, with Broadcom, AMD and TSMC also featuring in the top 10.
Performance of the fund vs sector over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics