Global Equities

Dear Investor,

We provide this monthly report to you following conclusion of the month of January 2026.

Global equity markets posted positive USD returns in January amid volatility stemming from heightened geopolitical tensions. Despite the turbulence, equities benefited from rising growth expectations and benign inflation dynamics, with the global index gaining 1.55% in USD terms. The US underperformed other major global indices, with Japan and Europe the standouts.

Listed Infrastructure outperformed global markets, with the Tamim Global Infrastructure Strategy returning +0.14%, outperforming its strategic benchmark by 1% in AUD terms. The AUD strengthened 4.3% against the USD, dampening what was a 5.3% USD return for the month. Primary drivers of relative performance were overweight positions in construction and engineering, which bounced back from a weak Q4.

The best performing stock in absolute terms was Emcor (+12.2% AUD) following positive earnings revisions and an increase to its quarterly dividend. UK utility Centrica also posted pleasing performance, up 9.8% (AUD) after the announcement of additional dividend repurchases. Nuclear operator Constellation Energy was a significant drag, down 24.4% (AUD) primarily due to regulatory shocks around power price caps in PJM which hit the AI data centre and nuclear themes. We cut much of our exposure to the nuclear and data centre theme in November following considerable price appreciation and multiple expansion. We still have conviction in Constellation despite the substantial price decline and will likely look to add further data-centre/nuclear exposure in the coming months.

2026 has seen a significant rotation away from asset-light businesses, many of which have been market darlings for the past decade. Developments in AI have materially lowered barriers to entry for software development, and large enterprise software businesses have suffered as a result. Asset-heavy businesses like listed infrastructure have seen significant capital inflows year-to-date. This rotation has caused considerable pain in certain segments of the market, though major indices remain near all-time highs. We view this shift toward tangible assets with low obsolescence risk as healthy.

The move away from high-growth momentum segments will likely provide a drag on the US in the near term. Broadly, we see Europe and Japan outperforming the US for the remainder of this quarter.

In Japan, Prime Minister Takaichi dissolved the lower house and called a snap election for 8 February. Takaichi delivered a historic landslide victory, which markets have so far treated as a green light for equities. Fiscal uncertainty and shifting rate expectations kept the yen volatile against major currencies through 2H 2025, we expect some of this to dampen for the remainder of Q1 with a more firm upward rates trajectory from the BOJ. We expect listed infrastructure to benefit from increased domestic capex and fiscal support under the new government.

Valuations remain attractive in Europe relative to the US. We expect tailwinds for the German economy from infrastructure stimulus combined with efforts to soften climate policy in favour of industrial competitiveness. More broadly, the rotation away from US growth equities has seen meaningful capital flows into European industrials and utilities, a trend we expect to persist.