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As Of Filer Filing As/For/On Docs:Pgs Issuer Agent 3/11/05 Gam Funds Inc N-CSR 12/31/04 4:226 930413
Document/Exhibit Description Pages Size
1: N-CSR Certified Annual Shareholder Report of a HTML 1,449K
Management Investment Company
2: EX-99.CODE ETH Miscellaneous Exhibit HTML 27K
3: EX-99.CERT Miscellaneous Exhibit HTML 19K
4: EX-99.906 CERT Miscellaneous Exhibit HTML 8K
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM N-CSR
CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT
INVESTMENT COMPANIES
| Investment Company Act file number | |
| GAM Funds, Inc. (Exact name of registrant as specified in charter) |
|
| 135 East 57th Street, New York,
NY 10022 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code) |
|
| The Corporation Trust Inc.,
300 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD 21202 (Name and address of agent for service) |
|
| Registrant's telephone number, including area code: | 212-407-4600 |
| Date of fiscal year end: | 12/31/2004 |
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| Date of reporting period: | 12/31/2004 |
| Form N-CSR is to be used by management investment companies to file reports with the Commission not later than 10 days after the transmission to stockholders of any report that is required to be transmitted to stockholders under Rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR 270.30e -1). The Commission may use the information provided on Form N-CSR in its regulatory, disclosure review, inspection, and policymaking roles. |
| A registrant is required to disclose the information specified by Form N-CSR, and the Commission will make this information public. A registrant is not required to respond to the collection of information contained in Form N-CSR unless the Form displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") control number. Please direct comments concerning the accuracy of the information collection burden estimate and any suggestions for reducing the burden to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549-0609. The OMB has reviewed this collection of information under the clearance requirements of 44 U.S.C. § 3507. |
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GAM Funds, Inc.
|
ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 |
GAM INTERNATIONAL FUND
GAM PACIFIC BASIN FUND
GAM EUROPE FUND
GAM AMERICAN FOCUS FUND
GAMERICA CAPITAL FUND
GAM GABELLI LONG/SHORT FUND
| This report has been prepared for the information of shareholders of GAM Funds, Inc., and is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors unless preceded or accompanied by an effective prospectus that includes information regarding the Funds’ objectives, policies, management, records and other information. |
GAM FUNDS, INC.
INVESTMENT ADVISERS:
|
GAM INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED GAM USA INC. GAMCO INVESTORS, INC. |
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The GAM Group
The GAM group was founded in April 1983 by Gilbert de Botton. GAM’s corporate policy is to attempt to harness the top investment talent in the world, not only in-house but also outside the GAM organization, in order to provide above average, long-term growth. The GAM group currently has in excess of US$37 billion under management and employs a worldwide staff of over 700 people.
For US investors, GAM offers GAM Funds, Inc. (the “Company”) an open-end diversified management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. The Company consists of six open-end mutual funds – GAM International, GAM Pacific Basin, GAM Europe, GAM American Focus, GAMerica Capital and GAM Gabelli Long/Short Funds.
For additional information about the GAM Funds, please contact your financial consultant or call GAM at 1–800–426–4685 (toll-free).
| CONTENTS | ||
| GAM International | 3 | |
| GAM Pacific Basin | 8 | |
| GAM Europe | 13 | |
| GAM American Focus | 18 | |
| GAMerica Capital | 23 | |
| GAM Gabelli Long/Short | 28 | |
| Financial Statements | 34 | |
| Notes to Financial Statements | 41 | |
| Report of Independent Registered Public | ||
| Accounting Firm | 61 | |
| Additional Information | 62 | |
| Supplemental Proxy Information | 63 | |
| Directors’ Information | 64 | |
| Officers’ Information | 65 |
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| GAM International Fund | ![]() |
FUND MANAGEMENT
![]() |
Sean Taylor is an Investment Director. He joined GAM in 2004 to manage global mandates. Prior to joining GAM, Mr Taylor was Head of Global Equity at SG Asset Management, where he was also Head of the Emerging Market Desk. Previously he was a fund manager at Capel-Cure Myers and before that he was at HSBC James Capel Investment Management. Until 1992 Mr Taylor served as an officer in the British Army having attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. He has an MBA from Manchester Business School. |
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation, generally through investment in equity securities issued by companies in countries other than the United States, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and the Pacific Basin. However, if the Fund determines that the long-term capital appreciation of debt securities may equal or exceed the return on equity securities, it may be substantially invested in debt securities of companies and governments, their agencies and instrumentalities. Any income realized by the Fund on its investments will be incidental to its goal of long-term capital appreciation.
Investments in securities of foreign issuers involve additional risks and expenses including currency rate fluctuations, political and economic instability, foreign taxes and different accounting and reporting standards.
REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS (UNAUDITED)
THE FACTS – CLASS A SHARES
| GAM | |||||||||
| International | |||||||||
| Class A (after | Average | ||||||||
| GAM | maximum | MSCI | 1 Month | ||||||
| International | sales load of | EAFE | Deposit | ||||||
| Class A | 5.50%) | Index | Rate | ||||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 19.59 | US$ 20.73 | 1,515.48 | ||||||
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| % | % | % | % | ||||||
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| Quarter to December, 2004 | 15.53 | 9.17 | 15.36 | 0.50 | |||||
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| Jan – December, 2004 | 17.68 | 11.21 | 20.70 | 1.36 | |||||
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| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | |||||||||
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| 5 years to December, 2004 | (5.26 | ) | (6.32 | ) | (0.80 | ) | 2.95 | ||
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| 10 years to December, 2004 | 4.82 | 4.23 | 5.94 | 4.26 | |||||
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| 15 years to December, 2004 | 7.25 | 6.84 | 4.55 | 4.57 | |||||
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| Since inception | 12.84 | 12.52 | 11.80 | 5.42 | |||||
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Performance is calculated on a total return basis. Class A inception was on 2nd January, 1985, Class B on 26th May, 1998, and Class C on 19th May, 1998. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
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GAM International Fund
NOTE: The graph compares the performance results of a hypothetical $10,000 investment in Class A and a comparable index. The performance of Class A is shown after adjustment to reflect the maximum sales load, which is waived for certain investors. The performance of the index does not reflect brokerage commissions and other expenses that would be incurred to acquire a comparable portfolio of securities. The performance tables and graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.
The MSCI Europe, Australasia and Far East Index is a market value weighted, unmanaged index of the weighted share prices of some 1,093 companies listed on the stock exchanges of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The combined market capitalization of these companies represents approximately 60% of the aggregate market value of the stock exchanges of the above 20 countries. The percentage change in the value of the index includes dividends reinvested.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN – CLASS A
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE – CLASS A
| GAM | ||||||
| International | ||||||
| Class A | ||||||
| GAM | (after maximum | MSCI | ||||
| International | sales load | EAFE | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | ||||
| Year | % | % | % | |||
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| 2000 | (22.74 | ) | (26.99 | ) | (13.96 | ) |
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| 2001 | (24.53 | ) | (28.68 | ) | (21.21 | ) |
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| 2002 | (15.35 | ) | (20.01 | ) | (15.66 | ) |
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| 2003 | 31.44 | 24.21 | 39.17 | |||
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| 2004 | 17.68 | 11.21 | 20.70 | |||
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THE FACTS – CLASS B SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| International | Average | |||||||
| GAM | Class B | MSCI | 1 Month | |||||
| International | (with deferred | EAFE | Deposit | |||||
| Class B | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 19.42 | 1,515.48 | ||||||
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| % | % | % | % | |||||
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| Quarter to December, 2004 | 15.34 | 10.34 | 15.36 | 0.50 | ||||
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| Jan – December, 2004 | 16.94 | 11.94 | 20.70 | 1.36 | ||||
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| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
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| 3 years to December, 2004 | 8.61 | 7.76 | 12.31 | 1.41 | ||||
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| 5 years to December, 2004 | (5.90 | ) | (6.21 | ) | (0.80 | ) | 2.95 | |
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| Since inception* | (4.98 | ) | (4.98 | ) | 3.38 | 3.54 | ||
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THE FACTS – CLASS C SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| International | Average | |||||||
| GAM | Class C | MSCI | 1 Month | |||||
| International | (with deferred | EAFE | Deposit | |||||
| Class C | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 19.62 | 1,515.48 | ||||||
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| % | % | % | % | |||||
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| Quarter to December, 2004 | 15.63 | 14.63 | 15.36 | 0.50 | ||||
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| Jan – December, 2004 | 17.08 | 16.08 | 20.70 | 1.36 | ||||
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| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
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| 3 years to December, 2004 | 8.59 | 8.59 | 12.31 | 1.41 | ||||
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| 5 years to December, 2004 | (5.92 | ) | (5.92 | ) | (0.80 | ) | 2.95 | |
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| Since inception* | (4.65 | ) | (4.65 | ) | 3.76 | 3.54 | ||
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| * Inception was on 26th May, 1998 for Class B shares and 19th May, 1998 for Class C shares. | ||||||||
EXPENSE DISCLOSURE
HYPOTHETICAL $1,000 INVESTMENT
As a shareholder of the Fund, you can incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period from 1st July, 2004 to 31st December, 2004.
The first line in the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over a period.
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds by comparing this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples of other funds in this report or elsewhere. Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges. If these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
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Ending | Expenses Paid | |||||
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Account Value | During Period* | |||||
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31st Dec, 2004 | 7/1/04-12/31/04 | |||||
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Class A
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Actual |
$1,000.00
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$1,160.70
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$11.62
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| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
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1,014.38
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10.84
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Class B
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Actual |
$1,000.00
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$1,156.80
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$15.29
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| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
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1,010.96
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14.25
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Class C
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Actual |
$1,000.00
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$1,159.10
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$14.82
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| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
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1,011.41
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13.80
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| * | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio of 2.14%, 2.82% and 2.73% for Class A, Class B and Class C, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184 divided by 366 (to reflect the one-half year period). |
THE COMMENT
The Fund’s Class A NAV had a strong year returning 17.68% in USD. The Fund was helped by strong international markets with the MSCI EAFE price index returning 17.59% and the MSCI EAFE total return index returning 20.70% .
During this period most asset classes globally produced positive returns as the Federal reserve held Fed funds at a low nominal and negative real level. In currency terms the US dollar was weak against most other currencies. International stocks outperformed their US counterparts, mainly due to currency. On a regional basis, Europe was the outperformer after a strong 4th quarter rally, helped by a strong Euro, brought the return for the year above 20%.The Pacific region also produced nearly 20% returns with Australia and Hong Kong and Singapore the outperformers and Japan the laggard. The Emerging Markets also had a strong year.
In terms of attribution the Fund was in line with the price index, but lagged the total return index. The equity proportion of the Fund outperformed but performance was detracted from the small cash holding, necessary for liquidity, and fees. According to Morningstar the Fund’s performance during the period was above the average International fund. By June the changes of the new manager had been implemented. The most significant change was to reduce the number of holdings to around 90. In the sixth month period to Dec 04 the Fund’s Class A NAV produced a return of 16.07% versus the MSCI EAFE price index of 14.12% and total return index of 15.10% . The equity portion of the Fund, excluding cash asset allocation, produced a flat contribution whereas stock selection contributed positively. In asset allocation Emerging Markets contributed positively, whereas underweights in Europe and Australia detracted from performance. Stock selection in both Europe and the Pacific were positive contributors. In particular stock selection was strong in Italy, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Over the year the best contributors to performance on a stock level were Promina in Australia, AU Optronics Corp in Taiwan, Hyflux in Singapore, Hong Kong Land in Hong Kong, and Aiful in Japan. The main detractors of performance were Jafco, Ricoh and Sanyo in Japan, Rio Tinto in Australia, and Infineon in Germany.
The outlook for 2005 is less clear as the potential for US rates rises increases. On the one hand global growth looks to be robust, even if it is slowing from 2004. On the other hand valuations of international stocks are still relatively attractive.
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GAM International Fund
STATEMENT OF INVESTMENTS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004
| MARKET | |||
| VALUE | |||
| HOLDINGS | DESCRIPTION | US$ | |
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| EQUITIES – 98.1% | |||
| AUSTRALIA – 1.9% | |||
| 188,500 | AWB | 669,587 | |
| 420,000 | Promina Group | 1,770,628 | |
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| 2,440,215 | |||
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| BELGIUM – 1.0% | |||
| 38,200 | AGFA Gevaert | 1,290,810 | |
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| 1,290,810 | |||
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| DENMARK – 0.4% | |||
| *30,000 | Genmab | 545,961 | |
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| 545,961 | |||
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| FINLAND – 0.7% | |||
| 59,370 | Nokia Oyj | 933,959 | |
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| 933,959 | |||
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| FRANCE – 8.2% | |||
| 18,277 | BNP Paribas | 1,318,823 | |
| 34,100 | Bouygues | 1,569,596 | |
| 39,137 | Sanofi–Aventis | 3,115,440 | |
| *13,250 | Societe des Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone | 797,337 | |
| 16,018 | Total S.A. | 3,484,807 | |
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| 10,286,003 | |||
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| GERMANY – 7.9% | |||
| 21,400 | BASF | 1,535,480 | |
| 41,718 | Bayerische Motoren Werke | 1,875,064 | |
| 60,000 | Deutsche Post | 1,372,753 | |
| *70,000 | Infineon Technologies | 756,233 | |
| 30,200 | RWE | 1,664,010 | |
| 32,300 | Siemens | 2,727,736 | |
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| 9,931,276 | |||
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| HONG KONG – 6.1% | |||
| 914,000 | Anhui Conch Cement | 993,638 | |
| 2,884,000 | Denway Motors | 1,029,636 | |
| 70,800 | Hang Seng Bank | 983,745 | |
| 243,000 | Henderson Land Development | 1,266,154 | |
| 633,000 | Hong Kong Land Holdings | 1,677,450 | |
| 81,000 | Sun Hung Kai Properties | 810,234 | |
| 85,000 | Swire Pacific A | 710,817 | |
| 1,280,000 | Yantai North Andre Juice | 167,971 | |
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| 7,639,645 | |||
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| ITALY – 1.0% | |||
| 230,000 | Unicredito Italiano | 1,317,112 | |
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| 1,317,112 | |||
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| JAPAN – 23.3% | |||
| 35,700 | Canon | 1,922,121 | |
| 36,100 | Daito Trust Construction | 1,711,683 | |
| 19,100 | Fanuc | 1,245,935 | |
| 14,200 | FAST RETAILING | 1,078,376 | |
| 237,000 | Mitsubishi Corporation | 3,055,087 | |
| 230,000 | Mitsubishi Estate | 2,687,178 | |
| 149,000 | Mitsui & Company | 1,333,181 | |
| 34,900 | Murata Manufacturing | 1,947,006 | |
| 92,000 | Nomura Holdings | 1,338,214 | |
| 620,000 | Resona Holdings | 1,255,574 | |
| 80,000 | RICOH | 1,539,870 | |
| 12,800 | Rohm | 1,321,001 | |
| 31,600 | Shin-Etsu Chemical | 1,292,182 | |
| 38,300 | Sony | 1,476,662 | |
| 233,000 | Sumitomo Corporation | 2,005,374 | |
| 183 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | 1,327,378 | |
| 11,000 | Toei Animation | 460,520 | |
| 60,000 | Toppan Printing | 664,200 | |
| *282 | UFJ | 1,705,014 | |
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| 29,366,556 | |||
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| KOREA, REPUBLIC OF – 3.6% | |||
| *122,600 | Daewoo Heavy Industry & Machinery | 947,450 | |
| 21,040 | Hyundai Motor | 1,128,014 | |
| 6,700 | Samsung Electronics GDS (1/2 Voting) | 1,467,300 | |
| 45,400 | Webzen | 1,019,658 | |
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| 4,562,422 | |||
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| NETHERLANDS – 5.4% | |||
| 31,961 | Fortis Group | 881,386 | |
| 102,278 | Royal Dutch Petroleum | 5,863,949 | |
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| 6,745,335 | |||
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| NORWAY – 1.1% | |||
| 40,400 | Orkla | 1,322,955 | |
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| 1,322,955 | |||
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| POLAND – 1.2% | |||
| *162,000 | Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci | 1,501,200 | |
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| 1,501,200 | |||
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| RUSSIAN FEDERATION – 1.1% | |||
| *11,136 | Lukoil Oil Sponsored ADR | 1,358,904 | |
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| 1,358,904 | |||
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| SINGAPORE – 3.7% | |||
| 88,000 | DBS Group | 867,925 | |
| 842,000 | Hyflux | 1,531,941 | |
| 865,000 | Singapore Exchange | 948,511 | |
| 318,750 | Singapore Press Holdings | 898,217 | |
| *550,000 | Suntec REIT | 373,989 | |
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| 4,620,583 | |||
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| SPAIN – 2.3% | |||
| 84,400 | Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria | 1,491,102 | |
| 73,879 | Telefonica | 1,386,241 | |
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| 2,877,343 | |||
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| SWITZERLAND – 2.5% | |||
| 4,800 | Nestle (Registered) | 1,251,479 | |
| 18,600 | Novartis (Registered) | 934,034 | |
| 8,500 | Roche Holding Genussscheine | 975,111 | |
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| 3,160,624 | |||
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| TAIWAN – 1.9% | |||
| 881,922 | Taishin Financial Holdings | 826,715 | |
| 570,433 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing | 906,161 | |
| 76,000 | Taiwan Semiconductor | ||
| Manufacturing (ADR) | 645,240 | ||
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| 2,378,116 | |||
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| THAILAND – 1.8% | |||
| 3,529,000 | Land & House | 1,026,453 | |
| *944,100 | Siam Commercial Bank | 1,178,606 | |
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| 2,205,059 | |||
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| MARKET | |||
| VALUE | |||
| HOLDINGS | DESCRIPTION | US$ | |
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| UNITED KINGDOM – 20.3% | |||
| 59,418 | Antofagasta | 1,276,235 | |
| 118,136 | Aviva | 1,421,506 | |
| 168,600 | BHP Billiton | 1,972,196 | |
| 309,750 | BP | 3,014,962 | |
| 708,700 | BT Group | 2,756,546 | |
| 94,617 | Gallaher Group | 1,434,918 | |
| 182,200 | HSBC Holdings | 3,068,627 | |
| 295,000 | Lloyds TSB Group | 2,673,560 | |
| 155,279 | National Grid Transco | 1,475,711 | |
| 1,678,090 | Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance | 2,491,861 | |
| 174,272 | Scottish Power | 1,346,508 | |
| 130,000 | Shire Pharmaceuticals Group | 1,362,503 | |
| 460,000 | Vodafone Group | 1,244,953 | |
|
|
|||
| 25,540,086 | |||
|
|
|||
| UNITED STATES – 2.7% | |||
| 56,100 | Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones | 1,118,634 | |
| 9,400 | Mobile Telesystems ADR | 1,301,994 | |
| 26,600 | State Bank of India Reg S | 970,900 | |
|
|
|||
| 3,391,528 | |||
|
|
|||
| Total Equities (Cost $102,706,654) | 123,415,692 | ||
|
|
|||
| TIME DEPOSITS – 1.4% | |||
| UNITED KINGDOM – 1.4% | |||
| 1,744,797 | Bank of America (London) | ||
| 1.60%, 2005-01-03 | 1,744,797 | ||
|
|
|||
| Total Time Deposits (Cost $1,744,797) | 1,744,797 | ||
|
|
|||
| Total Investments (Cost $104,451,451) – 99.5% | 125,160,489 | ||
| Other Assets Less Liabilities – 0.5% | 637,542 | ||
|
|
|||
| Total Net Assets – 100.0% | 125,798,031 | ||
|
|
|||
|
* Non-income producing security. Glossary: ADR – American Depositary Receipt REIT – Real Estate Investment Trust See notes to financial statements. |
|
GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
|
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
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|---|
GAM Pacific Basin Fund
FUND MANAGEMENT
![]() |
Lesley Kaye is the Investment Director responsible for GAM's Japan funds and co-manager of GAM's Pacific funds with Michael Lai. She joined GAM in May 2001, prior to which she was a Japanese equity broker for 13 years at ING Barings (formerly Baring Securities). Ms Kaye started her career with Nikko Securities and also spent two years on the Japan desk of Hoare Govett. She holds a BA in Languages from Bristol University. Ms Kaye is based in London. |
![]() |
Michael Lai is the Investment Director responsible for GAM's Asian funds and co-manager of GAM's Pacific funds with Lesley Kaye. Before joining GAM in 1998, he was Senior Vice President at Trust Company of the West (Asia) responsible for Asian portfolios. Prior to this, he was an investment manager at BZW Investment Management (HK). Mr Lai holds an MSc in Econometrics from the London School of Economics and is a CFA charterholder. He is based in Hong Kong. |
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation, generally through investment in equity securities issued by companies with principal offices in the Pacific Basin, including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, India, Australia and New Zealand. However, if the Fund determines that the long-term capital appreciation of debt securities may equal or exceed the return on equity securities, it may be invested substantially in debt securities of Pacific Basin companies and their governments, their agencies and instrumentalities. Any income realized by the Fund on its investments will be incidental to its goal of long-term capital appreciation.
Investments in securities of foreign issuers involve additional risks and expenses including currency rate fluctuations, political and economic instability, foreign taxes and different accounting and reporting standards.
REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS (UNAUDITED)
THE FACTS – CLASS A SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| Pacific Basin | ||||||||
| Class A (after | Average | |||||||
| GAM | maximum | MSCI | 1 Month | |||||
| Pacific Basin | sales load | Pacific | Deposit | |||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 10.79 | US$ 11.42 | 1,935.13 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 12.61 | 6.42 | 14.03 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 21.09 | 14.43 | 19.30 | 1.36 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (2.09 | ) | (3.19 | ) | (3.45 | ) | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 10 years to December, 2004 | 0.97 | 0.40 | (0.42 | ) | 4.26 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 15 years to December, 2004 | 4.42 | 4.03 | (0.82 | ) | 4.57 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception | 5.98 | 5.64 | 0.56 | 5.14 | ||||
|
|
||||||||
Performance is calculated on a total return basis. Class A inception was on 6th May, 1987, Class B on 26th May, 1998, and Class C on 1st June, 1998. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
| N-CSR | 10th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 10th |
|---|

NOTE: The graph compares the performance results of a hypothetical $10,000 investment in Class A and a comparable index. The performance of Class A is shown after adjustment to reflect the maximum sales load, which is waived for certain investors. The performance of the index does not reflect brokerage commissions and other expenses that would be incurred to acquire a comparable portfolio of securities. The performance tables and graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.
The MSCI Pacific Index is an arithmetical average weighted by market value of the performance of some 410 securities listed on the stock exchanges of Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore/Malaysia and Japan. The combined market capitalization of these companies represents approximately 60% of the aggregate market value of the stock exchanges of the above 5 countries. The percentage change in the value of the index includes dividends reinvested.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN – CLASS A
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE – CLASS A
| GAM | ||||||
| Pacific Basin | ||||||
| Class A | ||||||
| GAM | (after maximum | MSCI | ||||
| Pacific Basin | sales load | Pacific | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | ||||
| Year | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2000 | (23.21 | ) | (27.44 | ) | (25.64 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2001 | (17.45 | ) | (21.99 | ) | (25.22 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2002 | (12.41 | ) | (17.22 | ) | (9.01 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2003 | 33.83 | 26.47 | 38.98 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2004 | 21.09 | 14.43 | 19.30 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| N-CSR | 11th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 11th |
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GAM Pacific Basin Fund
THE FACTS – CLASS B SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| Pacific Basin | Average | |||||||
| GAM | Class B | MSCI | 1 Month | |||||
| Pacific Basin | (with deferred | Pacific | Deposit | |||||
| Class B | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 10.97 | 1,935.13 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 12.30 | 7.30 | 14.03 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 19.85 | 14.85 | 19.30 | 1.36 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 10.86 | 10.04 | 14.69 | 1.41 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (3.22 | ) | (3.56 | ) | (3.45 | ) | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | 5.46 | 5.46 | 5.35 | 3.54 | ||||
|
|
||||||||
THE FACTS – CLASS C SHARES
| GAM | |||||||
| Pacific Basin | Average | ||||||
| GAM | Class C | MSCI | 1 Month | ||||
| Pacific Basin | (with deferred | Pacific | Deposit | ||||
| Class C | sales charge) | Index | Rate | ||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 8.98 | 1,935.13 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 12.53 | 11.53 | 14.03 | 0.50 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 20.04 | 19.04 | 19.30 | 1.36 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 9.32 | 9.32 | 14.69 | 1.41 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (4.54 | ) | (4.54 | ) | (3.45 | ) | 2.95 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | 3.36 | 3.36 | 6.21 | 3.53 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Inception was on 26th May, 1998 for Class B shares and 1st June, 1998 for Class C shares. | |||||||
EXPENSE DISCLOSURE
HYPOTHETICAL $1,000 INVESTMENT
As a shareholder of the Fund, you can incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period from 1st July, 2004 to 31st December, 2004. The first line in the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over a period.
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds by comparing this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples of other funds in this report or elsewhere.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges. If these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning |
|
Expenses Paid | |||||
| Account Value |
|
During Period* | |||||
| 1st July 2004 |
|
7/1/04-12/31/04 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Class A
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,162.00
|
$13.64
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,012.52
|
12.70
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Class B
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,155.90
|
$18.48
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,007.99
|
17.21
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Class C
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,157.20
|
$16.92
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,009.45
|
15.76
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| * | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio of 2.51%, 3.41% and 3.12% for Class A, Class B and Class C, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184 divided by 366 (to reflect the one-half year period). |
THE COMMENT
The stock markets of the Pacific region posted a return of 19.30% (as measured by the MSCI Pacific index in USD) for the twelve months ended 31st December, 2004.
Japan, which is the largest component of the benchmark at 73.70%, achieved a return of 15.95% for the year, as measured by the MSCI Japan index in US dollar terms. The Fund has continued to underweight Japan throughout the year and its allocation was 49.10% at year-end. There were good performances from the consumer finance and general financial area and in particular, stocks such as Aiful, Credit Saison, JAFCO and Orix. The Japanese market was weaker towards the end of the year, as a result of a continuation of poor economic data releases compounded by the worst typhoon season on record in October followed by the worst earthquake since Kobe in November. However, we are happy with the view that this is a mid-cycle lull. Japan’s cycle is no longer dysfunctional. Domestic sectors were the best performers due to the weakness in the dollar, which at one point caused the yen to spike to 102. In spite of this, corporate earnings were exceptionally good and, for the first time in over 20 years, the market is underpinned by cheap valuations. We used the weakness to add to existing holdings.
Of the other regional markets, Australia was the top performer, up 31.95% for the year, as measured by the MSCI Australia index in US dollar term. The portfolio’s weighting to that market was 11.50% at year-end which is underweight that of the MSCI Pacific index. We continue to hold long-term positions in stocks such as AWB (Australia Wheat Board) and St George Bank and added BHP Billiton later in the year. BHP and Rio Tinto, another of the Fund’s holdings, are benefiting greatly from rising commodity prices.
Hong Kong and Singapore also performed well, with the Hang Seng Index in US dollar terms up 16.80% and the Straits Times Index in US dollar terms up 21.82% . Property is a key theme for the Fund’s Hong Kong exposure. We believe improved consumer confidence and a weaker US dollar may serve to inflate Hong Kong dollar asset prices because of Hong Kong’s currency peg to the US dollar. Recent transactions in the property market suggest that high prices are sustainable, which augurs well for the economy as a whole.
The Fund’s holdings in Singapore are dominated by property, energy and quasi-monopoly-type companies and there are signs that loan growth and the economy in general are improving.
In China, although the economy appears to be in a reasonable shape and consumption may continue to grow, any slowdown in growth may impact cyclical companies. We have focused on stock-specific situations, which have been mostly consumer staples and services companies. We are also continuing to focus on energy via companies in China such as CNOOC, the state-owned oil company.
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STATEMENT OF INVESTMENTS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004
| MARKET | |||
| VALUE | |||
| HOLDINGS | DESCRIPTION | US$ | |
|
|
|
|
|
| EQUITIES – 90.7% | |||
| AUSTRALIA – 11.5% | |||
| 169,754 | AWB | 602,998 | |
| 22,000 | BHP Billiton | 263,471 | |
| 22,740 | National Australia Bank | 511,645 | |
| 159,872 | Promina Group | 673,985 | |
| 21,935 | Rio Tinto | 669,916 | |
| 14,000 | St. George Bank | 275,977 | |
|
|
|||
| 2,997,992 | |||
|
|
|||
| CHINA – 4.7% | |||
| 1,376,000 | China Petroleum & Chemical | 562,066 | |
| 1,209,500 | CNOOC | 649,662 | |
|
|
|||
| 1,211,728 | |||
|
|
|||
| HONG KONG – 15.7% | |||
| 48,000 | Cheung Kong Holdings | 480,139 | |
| 31,200 | Hang Seng Bank | 433,514 | |
| 239,321 | Hong Kong & China Gas | 495,715 | |
| 248,000 | Hong Kong Land Holdings | 657,200 | |
| 34,185 | HSBC Holdings | 584,942 | |
| 197,970 | Kerry Properties | 422,798 | |
| 51,000 | Sun Hung Kai Properties | 510,148 | |
| 60,000 | Swire Pacific A | 501,753 | |
|
|
|||
| 4,086,209 | |||
|
|
|||
| JAPAN – 49.1% | |||
| 4,450 | Aiful | 488,283 | |
| 24,000 | Asahi Glass | 264,044 | |
| 10,500 | Canon | 565,330 | |
| 10,900 | Daito Trust Construction | 516,824 | |
| 7,000 | Fanuc | 456,625 | |
| 6,700 | Fuji Photo Film | 243,968 | |
| 27,300 | Hitachi Construction Machinery | 374,508 | |
| 4,700 | Honda Motor | 242,985 | |
| 8,900 | Ito-Yokado | 372,602 | |
| 5,800 | JAFCO | 393,029 | |
| 89,900 | Mitsubishi Corporation | 1,158,871 | |
| 54,000 | Mitsubishi Estate | 630,903 | |
| 64 | Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group | 648,038 | |
| 45,000 | Mitsui Trust Holdings | 448,642 | |
| 56 | Mizuho Financial Group | 281,336 | |
| 56 | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | 250,803 | |
| 213 | NTT DoCoMo | 391,948 | |
| 4,200 | ORIX | 569,214 | |
| 35,000 | RICOH | 673,693 | |
| 70,000 | Sekisui Chemical | 510,466 | |
| 74,000 | Shinsei Bank | 502,892 | |
| 89,000 | Sumitomo Corporation | 766,001 | |
| 71 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | 514,994 | |
| 9,000 | Takeda Pharmaceutical | 452,147 | |
| 49,000 | TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK | 445,108 | |
| 15,100 | Toyota Motor | 613,056 | |
|
|
|||
| 12,776,310 | |||
|
|
|||
| SINGAPORE – 9.7% | |||
| 252,000 | Capitaland | 328,816 | |
| 31,351 | DBS Group | 309,208 | |
| 74,500 | Jardine Strategic Holdings | 610,900 | |
| 48,000 | Keppel | 252,879 | |
| 372,000 | Singapore Exchange | 407,915 | |
| 86,000 | Singapore Press Holdings | 242,343 | |
| 43,825 | United Overseas Bank | 370,488 | |
|
|
|||
| 2,522,549 | |||
|
|
|||
| Total Equities (Cost $19,834,764) | 23,594,788 | ||
|
|
|||
| MUTUAL FUND – 1.0% | |||
| TAIWAN – 1.0% | |||
| 19,000 | Taiwan Fund | 251,750 | |
|
|
|||
| Total Mutual Fund (Cost $400,701) | 251,750 | ||
|
|
|||
| TIME DEPOSITS – 2.3% | |||
| NASSAU – 2.3% | |||
| 604,151 | Wells Fargo | ||
| 1.60%, 2005-01-03 | 604,151 | ||
|
|
|||
| Total Time Deposits (Cost $604,151) | 604,151 | ||
|
|
|||
| Total Investments (Cost $20,839,616) – 94.0% | 24,450,689 | ||
| Other Assets Less Liabilities – 6.0% | 1,563,363 | ||
|
|
|||
| Total Net Assets – 100.0% | 26,014,052 | ||
|
|
|||
| See notes to financial statements. | |||
| N-CSR | 13th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 13th |
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GAM Pacific Basin Fund
|
GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
|
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
| N-CSR | 14th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 14th |
|---|
| GAM Europe Fund | ![]() |
FUND MANAGEMENT
![]() |
John Bennett is the Investment Director responsible for Europe-an markets. Mr Bennett heads a team of four European equity specialists, running long only and long/short strategies. Prior to joining GAM in 1993, he was a Senior Fund Manager at Ivory & Sime responsible for Continental European equity portfolios. He qualified in 1986 as a Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. |
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation, generally through investment in equity securities issued by companies in Europe. However, if the Fund determines that the long-term capital appreciation of debt securities may equal or exceed the return on equity securities, it may be substantially invested in debt securities of companies and governments, their agencies and instrumentalities. Any income realized by the Fund on its investments will be incidental to its goal of long-term capital appreciation.
Investments in securities of foreign issuers involve additional risks and expenses including currency rate fluctuations, political and economic instability, foreign taxes and different accounting and reporting standards.
REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS (UNAUDITED)
THE FACTS – CLASS A SHARES
| GAM | ||||||
| Europe | ||||||
| Class A (after | Average | |||||
| GAM | maximum | MSCI | 1 Month | |||
| Europe | sales load | Europe | Deposit | |||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | Rate | |||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 13.03 | US$ 13.79 | 1,377.95 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 15.72 | 9.35 | 15.95 | 0.50 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 22.71 | 15.96 | 21.39 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | 2.32 | 1.17 | 0.42 | 2.95 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 10 years to December, 2004 | 10.05 | 9.43 | 10.93 | 4.26 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception | 6.17 | 5.77 | 9.60 | 4.57 | ||
|
|
||||||
Performance is calculated on a total return basis. Class A inception was on 1st January, 1990, Class B on 26th May, 1998 and Class C on 20th May, 1998. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
| N-CSR | 15th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 15th |
|---|
GAM Europe Fund
NOTE: The graph compares the performance results of a hypothetical $10,000 investment in Class A and a comparable index. The performance of Class A is shown after adjustment to reflect the maximum sales load, which is waived for certain investors. The performance of the index does not reflect brokerage commissions and other expenses that would be incurred to acquire a comparable portfolio of securities. The performance tables and graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.
The MSCI Europe Index is a market value weighted, unmanaged index of the weighted share prices of companies listed on the stock exchanges of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The combined market capitalization of these companies represents approximately 60% of the aggregate market value of the stock exchanges of the above 15 countries. The percentage change in the value of the index includes dividends reinvested.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN – CLASS A
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE – CLASS A
| GAM | ||||||
| Europe | ||||||
| Class A (after | ||||||
| GAM | maximum | MSCI | ||||
| Europe | sales load | Europe | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50 | %) | Index | |||
| Year | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2000 | 4.61 | (1.14 | ) | (8.14 | ) | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2001 | (21.29 | ) | (25.62 | ) | (19.64 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2002 | (15.36 | ) | (20.02 | ) | (18.09 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2003 | 31.11 | 23.90 | 39.14 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2004 | 22.71 | 15.96 | 21.39 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| N-CSR | 16th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 16th |
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THE FACTS – CLASS B SHARES
| GAM | |||||
| Europe | Average | ||||
| GAM | Class B | MSCI | 1 Month | ||
| Europe | (with deferred | Europe | Deposit | ||
| Class B | sales charge) | Index | Rate | ||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 12.42 | 1,377.95 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 15.53 | 10.53 | 15.95 | 0.50 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 21.76 | 16.76 | 21.39 | 1.36 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 9.73 | 8.89 | 11.43 | 1.41 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | 1.36 | 0.99 | 0.42 | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | 1.52 | 1.52 | 2.66 | 3.54 | |
|
|
|||||
THE FACTS – CLASS C SHARES
| GAM Europe | Average | ||||||
| GAM | Class C | MSCI | 1 Month | ||||
| Europe | (with deferred | Europe | Deposit | ||||
| Class C | sales charge) | Index | Rate | ||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 10.98 | 1,377.95 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 14.61 | 13.61 | 15.95 | 0.50 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 17.81 | 16.81 | 21.39 | 1.36 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 6.85 | 6.85 | 11.43 | 1.41 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (0.56 | ) | (0.56 | ) | 0.42 | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | (0.04 | ) | (0.04 | ) | 2.96 | 3.54 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Inception was on 26th May, 1998 for Class B shares and 20th May, 1998 for Class C shares. | |||||||
EXPENSE DISCLOSURE
HYPOTHETICAL $1,000 INVESTMENT
As a shareholder of the Fund, you can incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period from 1st July, 2004 to 31st December, 2004.
The first line in the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over a period.
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds by comparing this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples of other funds in this report or elsewhere.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges. If these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning | Ending | Expenses Paid | |||||
| Account Value | Account Value | During Period* | |||||
| 1st July 2004 | 31st Dec 2004 | 7/1/04-12/31/04 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Class A
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,185.80
|
$13.96
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,012.37
|
12.85
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Class B
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
1,181.70
|
$17.60
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,009.00
|
16.21
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class C
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,159.50
|
$34.80
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
992.91
|
32.11
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio of 2.54%, 3.21% and 6.41% for Class A, Class B and Class C, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184 divided by 366 (to reflect the one-half year period). |
THE COMMENT
The Fund’s Class A NAV rose by 22.71% during the year ended 31st December, 2004. This compares with a rise of 21.39% for the benchmark MSCI Europe index.
The Fund’s main sector overweight was in the oil industry. This was driven by our belief that Europe’s oil majors that represented good value at a time of supportive supply/demand conditions. The decision, together with strong performance by stocks such as Imerys and Vinci, contributed to the Fund’s outperformance.
Measured by indices, European equities spent a large part of the year doing very little, before sparking to life in the final 3-4 months. This latter move has been ascribed to factors such as a clear result in the US election as well as a respite from rising oil prices. Perhaps less widely discussed is the effect of liquidity, which seems to us to remain highly supportive.
While such macro influences inevitably hog the headlines in the money management business, providing as they do the quick route to the easy soundbite, Europe is undergoing changes which arguably have greater long-term meaning for the equity investor. The nettle of corporate restructuring is being grasped ever more firmly, often by the least likely converts. In this context, the Fund increased its weighting in Germany during the year as we identified a growing number of recovery candidates. In the financial sector, holdings such as Allianz, Commerzbank and Hypovereinsbank encapsulate this view. The Fund ended the year with 20% of its assets in German equities. We are encouraged to see a growing appetite for German assets among non-German investors, notably in the private equity world. This stands in stark contrast to the apathy of domestic investors, who have perhaps not come to terms with the bursting of the equity bubble in 2000.
At the sector level, our overweight position on oil was joined by the telecoms and insurance sectors, where we now employ substantial overweights. The telecoms sector—in which Telecom Italia Mobile performed well—is favoured for its cash flow and valuation while, in insurance, we perceive good value as well as an improving supply/demand situation. Oil, telecoms and insurance together comprise some 50% of the Fund’s assets.
| N-CSR | 17th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 17th |
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GAM Europe Fund
STATEMENT OF INVESTMENTS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004
| MARKET | |||
| VALUE | |||
| HOLDINGS | DESCRIPTION | US$ | |
|
|
|
|
|
| EQUITIES – 99.4% | |||
| BELGIUM – 2.9% | |||
| 14,475 | AGFA Gevaert | 489,123 | |
| *4,430 | Belgacom | 190,715 | |
| 500 | Fortis Group | 13,775 | |
| 3,970 | UCB | 201,010 | |
| 1,240 | Umicore | 116,251 | |
| *1,780 | Umicore-Strip VVPR | 241 | |
|
|
|||
| 1,011,115 | |||
|
|
|||
| DENMARK – 1.2% | |||
| 7,545 | Den Danske Bank | 230,336 | |
| 4,000 | TDC A/S | 168,702 | |
|
|
|||
| 399,038 | |||
|
|
|||
| FRANCE – 14.9% | |||
| 10,165 | Bouygues | 467,887 | |
| *5,780 | Cap Gemini | 184,356 | |
| *2,815 | Compagnie Generale de Geophysique | 193,406 | |
| 8,580 | Credit Agricole | 257,866 | |
| 11,600 | France Telecom | 382,551 | |
| 23,765 | Havas | 135,127 | |
| 5,790 | Lagardere Groupe | 416,224 | |
| *15,070 | PagesJaunes | 364,172 | |
| *26,300 | SES Global (FDR) | 341,807 | |
| *6,000 | Societe des Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone | 361,058 | |
| 12,620 | Suez | 335,207 | |
| 5,125 | Total S.A. | 1,114,973 | |
| 10,535 | Veolia Environnement | 379,805 | |
| *5,815 | Vivendi Universal | 184,921 | |
|
|
|||
| 5,119,360 | |||
|
|
|||
| GERMANY – 19.0% | |||
| 4,150 | Allianz (Registered) | 548,343 | |
| 7,035 | Bayer | 237,528 | |
| *22,000 | Bayerische Hypo-Vereinsbank | 497,386 | |
| 5,655 | Bayerische Motoren Werke | 254,171 | |
| 4,265 | Bilfinger Berger | 174,662 | |
| *32,900 | Commerzbank | 675,227 | |
| 5,745 | Deutsche Bank | 508,032 | |
| 11,800 | Deutsche Post | 269,975 | |
| *8,015 | Deutsche Postbank | 352,648 | |
| *17,065 | Deutsche Telekom (Registered) | 384,658 | |
| 4,130 | E.ON | 374,945 | |
| *2,580 | Freenet | 66,189 | |
| 5,850 | Fresenius | 545,115 | |
| 9,180 | Hochtief | 298,145 | |
| 2,755 | Metro | 151,016 | |
| 5,840 | MobilCom | 132,033 | |
| 1,180 | Muenchener Rueckversicherung | ||
| (Registered) | 144,492 | ||
| 3,620 | Schering | 269,591 | |
| 2,920 | Siemens | 246,594 | |
| *12,150 | Software (Registered) | 391,478 | |
|
|
|||
| 6,522,228 | |||
|
|
|||
| ITALY – 9.2% | |||
| 4,280 | Assicurazioni Generali | 144,683 | |
| 17,800 | Enel | 174,226 | |
| 35,920 | ENI | 895,737 | |
| 21,000 | RAS | 473,072 | |
| 32,000 | Snam Rete Gas | 185,416 | |
| 164,580 | Telecom Italia RNC | 532,512 | |
| 87,630 | TIM | 652,484 | |
| 20,600 | Unicredito Italiano | 117,967 | |
|
|
|||
| 3,176,097 | |||
|
|
|||
| NETHERLANDS – 15.6% | |||
| 4,255 | Akzo Nobel | 180,762 | |
| 12,500 | Fortis Group | 344,711 | |
| *78,025 | Getronics | 177,459 | |
| 6,570 | IHC Caland | 415,727 | |
| 9,840 | ING Groep | 296,534 | |
| 13,300 | Koninklijke Wessanen | 170,152 | |
| 47,200 | KPN | 446,657 | |
| 6,195 | Philips | 163,626 | |
| 39,315 | Royal Dutch Petroleum | 2,254,064 | |
| 14,550 | Telegraaf Holdings | 359,485 | |
| 2,870 | Unilever | 191,667 | |
| 5,500 | Van Lanschot | 358,892 | |
|
|
|||
| 5,359,736 | |||
|
|
|||
| NORWAY – 1.8% | |||
| 2,270 | Norsk Hydro | 178,178 | |
| 27,480 | Statoil | 429,587 | |
|
|
|||
| 607,765 | |||
|
|
|||
| SPAIN – 2.6% | |||
| 10,370 | Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria | 183,208 | |
| 10,500 | Repsol YPF | 272,358 | |
| 22,800 | Telefonica | 427,812 | |
|
|
|||
| 883,378 | |||
|
|
|||
| SWEDEN – 1.8% | |||
| 72,300 | Skandia Forsakrings | 358,957 | |
| 20,635 | Skanska AB | 246,838 | |
|
|
|||
| 605,795 | |||
|
|
|||
| SWITZERLAND – 6.3% | |||
| 7,590 | Clariant | 122,060 | |
| 4,194 | Credit Suisse Group (Registered) | 175,692 | |
| *840 | Leica Geosystems (Registered) | 257,657 | |
| 905 | Nestle (Registered) | 235,956 | |
| 6,920 | Novartis (Registered) | 347,501 | |
| 3,035 | Roche Holding Genussscheine | 348,172 | |
| *1,150 | Swiss Life Holding | 166,798 | |
| 4,880 | Swiss Reinsurance (Registered) | 346,845 | |
| *1,020 | Zurich Financial Services | 169,486 | |
|
|
|||
| 2,170,167 | |||
|
|
|||
| UNITED KINGDOM – 24.1% | |||
| 44,100 | Aviva | 530,646 | |
| 18,640 | BG Group | 126,432 | |
| 16,015 | BHP Billiton | 187,335 | |
| 120,800 | BP | 1,175,811 | |
| 344,800 | BT Group | 1,341,128 | |
| 39,300 | Compass Group | 185,428 | |
| 23,500 | Daily Mail & General Trust A | 334,102 | |
| 176,000 | Friends Provident | 519,326 | |
| 11,190 | Gallaher Group | 169,702 | |
| 30,430 | GlaxoSmithKline | 712,492 | |
| *13,400 | IP2IPO Group | 167,787 | |
| 250,000 | Legal & General | 526,914 | |
| 18,970 | Lloyds TSB Group | 171,924 | |
| 41,700 | National Grid Transco | 396,300 | |
| 51,150 | Prudential | 443,967 | |
| 117,000 | Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance | 173,738 | |
| 51,120 | Somerfield | 154,024 | |
| 37,000 | Tate & Lyle | 335,151 | |
| 236,000 | Vodafone Group | 638,715 | |
|
|
|||
| 8,290,922 | |||
|
|
|||
| Total Equities (Cost $27,529,310) | 34,145,601 | ||
|
|
|||
| N-CSR | 18th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 18th |
|---|

| MARKET | ||||
| VALUE | ||||
|
HOLDINGS
|
DESCRIPTION
|
US$ | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
| PREFERRED SHARES – 0.8% | ||||
| GERMANY – 0.8% | ||||
| 450 |
Porsche Pfd
|
286,024 | ||
|
|
|
|||
| Total Preferred Shares (Cost $278,963) | 286,024 | |||
|
|
|
|||
| Total Investments (Cost $27,808,273) – 100.2% | 34,431,625 | |||
| Liabilities in Excess of Other Assets – (0.2%) | (67,011 | ) | ||
|
|
|
|||
| Total Net Assets – 100.0% | 34,364,614 | |||
|
|
|
|||
| * Non-income producing security. | ||||
| See notes to financial statements. | ||||
|
GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
|
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
| N-CSR | 19th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 19th |
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GAM American Focus Fund
FUND MANAGEMENT
![]() |
James Abate, an Investment Director based in New York, runs equity funds concentrated on the large-capitalisation segment of the US market. Prior to joining GAM, Mr Abate served as Managing Director and Portfolio Manager with responsibility for Credit Suisse Asset Management's US Select Equity portfolios and global sector funds. He holds a BS in Accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University, an MBA in finance from St. John's University and is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst. Mr Abate is the co-author of the book Focus on Value as well as a contributing author to several other financial texts and is a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Portfolio Management. |
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation, generally through investment in equity securities of selected large and mid-capitalization North American companies. However, if the Fund determines that the long-term capital appreciation of debt securities may equal or exceed the return on equity securities, it may be substantially invested in debt securities of companies and governments, their agencies and instrumentalities. Any income realized by the Fund on its investments will be incidental to its goal of long-term capital appreciation.
REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS (UNAUDITED)
THE FACTS – CLASS A SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| American Focus | ||||||||
| Class A (after | Average | |||||||
| GAM | maximum | S&P | 1 Month | |||||
| American Focus | sales load | Comp | Deposit | |||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 14.65 | US$ 15.50 | 1,211.92 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 7.09 | 1.20 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 1.48 | (4.10 | ) | 10.90 | 1.36 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (1.87 | ) | (2.97 | ) | (2.31 | ) | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 10 years to December, 2004 | 10.47 | 9.85 | 12.06 | 4.26 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception | 9.18 | 8.77 | 10.93 | 4.57 | ||||
|
|
||||||||
Performance is calculated on a total return basis. Class A inception was on 1st January, 1990, Class B on 26th May, 1998 and Class C on 7th July, 1998. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
| N-CSR | 20th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 20th |
|---|

NOTE: The graph compares the performance results of a hypothetical $10,000 investment in Class A and a comparable index. The performance of Class A is shown after adjustment to reflect the maximum sales load, which is waived for certain investors. The performance of the index does not reflect brokerage commissions and other expenses that would be incurred to acquire a comparable portfolio of securities. The performance tables and graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.
The Standard and Poor’s Composite Index is an unmanaged weighted index of the stock performance of 500 industrial, transportation, utility and financial companies. The percentage change in the value of the index includes dividends reinvested.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN – CLASS A
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE – CLASS A
| GAM | ||||||
| American Focus | ||||||
| Class A (after | Standard | |||||
| GAM | maximum | & Poor’s | ||||
| American Focus | sales load | Composite | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | ||||
| Year | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2000 | (1.46 | ) | (6.88 | ) | (9.10 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2001 | (5.94 | ) | (11.11 | ) | (11.89 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2002 | (22.10 | ) | (26.38 | ) | (22.12 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2003 | 24.19 | 17.36 | 28.64 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2004 | 1.48 | (4.10 | ) | 10.90 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| N-CSR | 21st "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 21st |
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GAM American Focus Fund
THE FACTS – CLASS B SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| American Focus | Average | |||||||
| GAM | Class B | S&P | 1 Month | |||||
| American Focus | (with deferred | Comp | Deposit | |||||
| Class B | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 14.00 | 1,211.92 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 6.79 | 1.79 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 0.72 | (4.28 | ) | 10.90 | 1.36 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 years to December, 2004 | (1.50 | ) | (2.50 | ) | 3.57 | 1.41 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (2.72 | ) | (3.06 | ) | (2.31 | ) | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | 0.45 | 0.45 | 3.07 | 3.54 | ||||
|
|
||||||||
THE FACTS – CLASS C SHARES
| GAM | ||||||||
| American Focus | Average | |||||||
| GAM | Class C | S&P | 1 Month | |||||
| American Focus | (with deferred | Comp | Deposit | |||||
| Class C | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 13.47 | 1,211.92 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 5.98 | 4.98 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | (0.59 | ) | (1.58 | ) | 10.90 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 years to December, 2004 | (2.06 | ) | (2.06 | ) | 3.57 | 1.41 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | (3.12 | ) | (3.12 | ) | (2.31 | ) | 2.95 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | (1.14 | ) | (1.14 | ) | 2.25 | 3.50 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Inception was on 26th May, 1998 for Class B shares and 7th July, 1998 for Class C shares. | ||||||||
EXPENSE DISCLOSURE
HYPOTHETICAL $1,000 INVESTMENT
As a shareholder of the Fund, you can incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period from 1st July, 2004 to 31st December, 2004.
The first line in the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over a period.
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds by comparing this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples of other funds in this report or elsewhere.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges. If these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning | Ending | Expenses Paid | |||||
| Account Value | Account Value | During Period* | |||||
| 1st July 2004 | 7/1/04-12/31/04 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Class A
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$985.40
|
$8.88
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,016.19
|
9.02
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class B
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$981.10
|
$12.55
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,012.47
|
12.75
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class C
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$971.20
|
$17.89
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | |||||||
| (Annualized 5% | |||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,006.99
|
18.21
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio of 1.78%, 2.52% and 3.61% for Class A, Class B and Class C, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184 divided by 366 (to reflect the one-half year period). |
THE COMMENT
The year 2004 witnessed continued strength in the US stock market and tangible assets, in general. In terms of market-based indicators, physical commodities and commodity-related equities reached multi-year highs during the year as the dollar fell sharply and reflationary stimulus continued in the US. Given the continued reflation, there was a strong investor preference for companies with a high concentration in physical assets. Consistent with this backdrop, the top performing S&P sectors were energy, utilities, telecommunications and industrials. Meanwhile, stable growth stocks such as consumer staples and health care as well as technology that historically have high intangible or excess return generating assets and that demonstrated real growth – units as opposed to nominal or price-driven growth – under performed the S&P 500 Composite Index.
The Fund under performed the S&P 500 Composite Index for the year mainly due to our bias away from the better performing sectors and over-weightings in health care and information technology stocks. Despite the sector impact, stocks that positively contributed to performance included telecommunications company Sprint PCS Corp., biotechnology company Biogen Idec and defense contractor Raytheon Corp. The largest detractors from relative performance included pharmaceutical companies Merck and Pfizer as safety issues arose concerning COX-2 drugs, as well as consumer staple company Coca-Cola.
Despite the rise in areas of the stock market that have benefited from reflation due to continued stimulus, we believe there is overwhelming evidence of increasing inflation pressures that should result in the Federal Reserve continuing its tightening cycle for longer than the market currently anticipates. Clearly, holding a higher real interest rate view since mid-year and positioning the Fund away from stocks within industries that benefit from the existing macro backdrop hurt performance. Further supporting our bias from a bottoms-up perspective, we see risks from emerging poor capital discipline in many of these reflation driven sectors, driven by belief by many of the companies in the persistence of peak returns on capital for longer than seems to be justified according to historical evidence. Rather than shift our portfolio to reflect the sectoral momentum in the market at this point, we remain steadfast in our strategy of protecting the portfolio against the risks associated with an expected change in Federal Reserve actions based upon the current market-based evidence of inflation including a falling dollar and low real interest rates. Despite our concerns, we continue to see opportunities from a stock picking standpoint and remain cautiously bullish on equities in general. Attributes in stocks that we find opportunistic from both a fundamental and valuation perspective are market share leadership, size, dividend yield and historically less sensitivity to interest rate changes. We are finding good companies with very attractive valuations in the health care, staples and technology sectors.
| N-CSR | 22nd "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 22nd |
|---|

STATEMENT OF INVESTMENTS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004
| MARKET | ||||
| VALUE | ||||
| HOLDINGS | DESCRIPTION | US$ | ||
|
|
|
|
||
| EQUITIES – 98.8% | ||||
| CAPITAL GOODS – 4.3% | ||||
| 13,000 | Northrop Grumman | 706,680 | ||
| 17,600 | Raytheon | 683,408 | ||
| 9,300 | United Technologies | 961,155 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,351,243 | ||||
|
|
||||
| COMMERICIAL SERVICES & | ||||
| SUPPLIES – 1.1% | ||||
| 15,400 | Deluxe | 574,882 | ||
|
|
||||
| 574,882 | ||||
|
|
||||
| CONSUMER DURABLES & | ||||
| APPAREL – 1.6% | ||||
| 27,800 | Tiffany & Company | 888,766 | ||
|
|
||||
| 888,766 | ||||
|
|
||||
DIVERSIFIED FINANCIALS – 4.0% |
||||
| 23,800 | Citigroup | 1,146,684 | ||
| 20,900 | State Street | 1,026,608 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,173,292 | ||||
|
|
||||
| ENERGY – 5.4% | ||||
| 11,000 | BP ADR | 642,400 | ||
| *26,900 | Oil Service Holders Trust | 2,288,383 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,930,783 | ||||
|
|
||||
| FOOD & STAPLES RETAILING – 2.1% |
||||
| 29,200 | Sysco | 1,114,564 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,114,564 | ||||
|
|
||||
| FOOD, BEVERAGE & TOBACCO – 15.2% | ||||
| 18,700 | Altria Group | 1,142,570 | ||
| 21,000 | Anheuser-Busch Companies | 1,065,330 | ||
| 17,600 | Campbell Soup | 526,064 | ||
| 55,800 | Coca-Cola | 2,322,954 | ||
| 18,600 | General Mills | 924,606 | ||
| 24,500 | PepsiCo | 1,278,900 | ||
| 14,800 | Wm Wrigley Jr. | 1,024,012 | ||
|
|
||||
| 8,284,436 | ||||
|
|
||||
| HEALTH CARE EQUIPMENT & | ||||
| SERVICES – 1.9% | ||||
| 20,700 | Medtronic | 1,028,169 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,028,169 | ||||
|
|
||||
| HOTELS, RESTAURANTS & | ||||
| LEISURE – 1.3% | ||||
| 22,800 | McDonald’s | 730,968 | ||
|
|
||||
| 730,968 | ||||
|
|
||||
| HOUSEHOLD & PERSONAL | ||||
| PRODUCTS – 2.5% | ||||
| 26,600 | Colgate-Palmolive | 1,360,856 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,360,856 | ||||
|
|
||||
| INSURANCE – 3.3% | ||||
| 12,300 | American International Group | 807,741 | ||
| 30,100 | Marsh & McLennan | 990,290 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,798,031 | ||||
|
|
||||
| MATERIALS – 5.5% | ||||
| 22,300 | Du Pont de Nemours | 1,093,815 | ||
| 30,200 | MeadWestvaco | 1,023,478 | ||
| 12,700 | Weyerhaeuser | 853,694 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,970,987 | ||||
|
|
||||
| MEDIA – 7.6% | ||||
| 40,900 | Clear Channel Communications | 1,369,741 | ||
| 24,200 | Dow Jones & Company | 1,042,052 | ||
| 18,000 | Tribune | 758,520 | ||
| 26,900 | Viacom B | 978,891 | ||
|
|
||||
| 4,149,204 | ||||
|
|
||||
| PHARMACEUTICALS & | ||||
| BIOTECHNOLOGY – 16.1% | ||||
| 48,900 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | 1,252,818 | ||
| 19,000 | Eli Lilly | 1,078,250 | ||
| 25,900 | Johnson & Johnson | 1,642,578 | ||
| *1 | Medco Health Solutions | 42 | ||
| 44,000 | Merck | 1,414,160 | ||
| 85,000 | Pfizer | 2,285,650 | ||
| 25,800 | Wyeth | 1,098,822 | ||
|
|
||||
| 8,772,320 | ||||
|
|
||||
| RETAILING – 3.1% | ||||
| 31,600 | Wal-Mart Stores | 1,669,112 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,669,112 | ||||
|
|
||||
| SEMICONDUCTORS & | ||||
| SEMICONDUCTOR | ||||
| EQUIPMENT – 12.9% | ||||
| *63,100 | Applied Materials | 1,079,010 | ||
| 67,700 | Intel | 1,583,503 | ||
| *12,600 | KLA-Tencor | 586,908 | ||
| 23,900 | Linear Technology | 926,364 | ||
| *115,300 | Micron Technology | 1,423,955 | ||
| *29,000 | Novellus Systems | 808,810 | ||
| *36,000 | Teradyne | 614,520 | ||
|
|
||||
| 7,023,070 | ||||
|
|
||||
| SOFTWARE & SERVICES – 2.3% | ||||
| *274,900 | i2 Technologies | 189,681 | ||
| 39,600 | Microsoft | 1,057,716 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,247,397 | ||||
|
|
||||
| TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE & | ||||
| EQUIPMENT – 3.8% | ||||
| *56,200 | Cisco Systems | 1,084,660 | ||
| *67,800 | EMC | 1,008,186 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,092,846 | ||||
|
|
||||
| TELECOMMUNICATION | ||||
| SERVICES – 4.8% | ||||
| *45,300 | AT&T Comcast | 1,507,584 | ||
| *86,200 | RF Micro Devices | 589,608 | ||
| 13,200 | Verizon Communications | 534,732 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,631,924 | ||||
|
|
||||
| Total Equities (Cost $52,302,255) | 53,792,850 | |||
|
|
||||
| TIME DEPOSITS – 3.5% | ||||
| GRAND CAYMAN – 3.5% | ||||
| 1,872,388 | HSBC Bank | |||
| 1.60%, 2005-01-03 | 1,872,388 | |||
|
|
||||
| Total Time Deposits (Cost $1,872,388) | 1,872,388 | |||
|
|
||||
| Total Investments (Cost $54,174,643) – 102.3% | 55,665,238 | |||
| Liabilities in Excess of Other Assets – (2.3%) | (1,229,464 | ) | ||
|
|
||||
| Total Net Assets – 100.0% | 54,435,774 | |||
|
|
||||
|
* Non-income producing security. Glossary: ADR – American Depositary Receipt See notes to financial statements. |
| N-CSR | 23rd "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 23rd |
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GAM American Focus Fund
|
GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
|
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
| N-CSR | 24th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 24th |
|---|
| GAMerica Capital Fund | ![]() |
FUND MANAGEMENT
![]() |
Gordon Grender is an Investment Adviser to certain GAM US equity funds. He has been associated with GAM since 1983 and is a Director of GAM International Management Limited. Mr Grender has been actively involved in fund management in North American stock markets since 1974. Between 1964 and 1990, he was also associated with London stockbrokers, Kitcat & Aitken. He is based in London. |
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation, generally through investment in equity securities issued by companies in the United States. However, if the Fund determines that the long-term capital appreciation of debt securities may equal or exceed the return on equity securities, it may be substantially invested in debt securities of companies and governments, their agencies and instrumentalities. Any income realized by the Fund on its investments will be incidental to its goal of long-term capital appreciation.
REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS (UNAUDITED)
THE FACTS – CLASS A SHARES
| GAMerica | |||||||
| Capital | |||||||
| Class A (after | Average | ||||||
| GAMerica | maximum | S&P | 1 Month | ||||
| Capital | sales load | Comp | Deposit | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | Rate | ||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 23.75 | US$ 25.13 | 1,211.92 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 12.47 | 6.29 | 9.22 | 0.50 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 0.10 | (5.41 | ) | 10.90 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 3.58 | 1.65 | 3.57 | 1.41 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | 2.93 | 1.77 | (2.31 | ) | 2.95 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception | 12.84 | 12.18 | 10.86 | 4.19 | |||
|
|
|||||||
Performance is calculated on a total return basis. Class A inception was on 12th May, 1995, Class B and Class C on 26th May, 1998. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
| N-CSR | 25th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 25th |
|---|
GAMerica Capital Fund
NOTE: The graph compares the performance results of a hypothetical $10,000 investment in Class A and a comparable index. The performance of Class A is shown after adjustment to reflect the maximum sales load, which is waived for certain investors. The performance of the index does not reflect brokerage commissions and other expenses that would be incurred to acquire a comparable portfolio of securities. The performance tables and graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.
The Standard and Poor’s Composite Index is an unmanaged weighted index of the stock performance of 500 industrial, transportation, utility and financial companies. The percentage change in the value of the index includes dividends reinvested.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN – CLASS A
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE – CLASS A
| GAMerica | ||||||
| Capital | ||||||
| Class A (after | Standard | |||||
| GAMerica | maximum | & Poor’s | ||||
| Capital | sales load | Composite | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | ||||
| Year | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2000 | 6.54 | 0.68 | (9.10 | ) | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2001 | (2.42 | ) | (7.79 | ) | (11.89 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2002 | (18.64 | ) | (23.12 | ) | (22.12 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2003 | 36.47 | 28.96 | 28.64 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2004 | 0.10 | (5.41 | ) | 10.90 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| N-CSR | 26th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 26th |
|---|

THE FACTS – CLASS B SHARES
| GAMerica | ||||||||
| Capital | Average | |||||||
| GAMerica | Class B (with | S&P | 1 Month | |||||
| Capital | deferred | Comp | Deposit | |||||
| Class B | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 23.04 | 1,211.92 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 12.31 | 7.31 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | (0.57 | ) | (5.41 | ) | 10.90 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 2.87 | 1.91 | 3.57 | 1.41 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | 2.24 | 1.87 | (2.31 | ) | 2.95 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | 6.33 | 6.33 | 3.07 | 3.54 | ||||
|
|
||||||||
THE FACTS – CLASS C SHARES
| GAMerica | ||||||||
| Capital | Average | |||||||
| GAMerica | Class C | S&P | 1 Month | |||||
| Capital | (with deferred | Comp | Deposit | |||||
| Class C | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 22.84 | 1,211.92 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 12.26 | 11.26 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | (0.66 | ) | (1.63 | ) | 10.90 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| 3 years to December, 2004 | 2.83 | 2.83 | 3.57 | 1.41 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 years to December, 2004 | 2.18 | 2.18 | (2.31 | ) | 2.95 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | 6.20 | 6.20 | 3.07 | 3.54 | ||||
|
|
||||||||
EXPENSE DISCLOSURE
HYPOTHETICAL $1,000 INVESTMENT
As a shareholder of the Fund, you can incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period from 1st July, 2004 to 31st December, 2004.
The first line in the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over a period.
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds by comparing this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples of other funds in this report or elsewhere.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges. If these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning | Ending | Expenses Paid | ||||||
| Account Value | Account Value | During Period* | ||||||
| 1st July 2004 | 31st Dec 2004 | 7/1/04-12/31/04 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class A
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,036.80
|
$9.42
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | ||||||||
| (Annualized 5% | ||||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,015.89
|
9.32
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class B
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,033.40
|
$12.93
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | ||||||||
| (Annualized 5% | ||||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,012.42
|
12.80
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class C
|
Actual |
$1,000.00
|
$1,032.70
|
$13.39
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Hypothetical | ||||||||
| (Annualized 5% | ||||||||
| return before expenses) |
1,000.00
|
1,011.97
|
13.25
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio of 1.84%, 2.53% and 2.62% for Class A, Class B and Class C, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184 divided by 366 (to reflect the one-half year period). |
THE COMMENT
US stock markets continued to improve in 2004 albeit at a much slower pace than in 2003. Measured by the S&P Composite Index, the Dow Jones Industrial and the NASDAQ indices, the market increased by 10.9%, 5.3% and 8.6% .
The Fund’s Class A NAV performance was very disappointing achieving a return of only 0.1% in the year ending 31st December, 2004 and underperforming its benchmark index, the S&P Composite Index by almost 11%.
Some of the best performing stocks last year were some of the worst performing this year, Neopharm, Freds and Dollar General. Retailers serving the poorest consumers were more affected by higher gasoline prices than we expected whilst Neopharm effectively lost an arbitration action against Pfizer which they were very confident of winning. The stock fell from over $20 to under $4, but following a management change recovered to $12.50 by the year end.
The drug stocks in general were particularly weak during the year and the Fund suffered from its relatively large exposure to the sector through its holdings of Merck and Pfizer.
While these substantial losses were offset to some extent by the very good performance of the energy stocks and other individual holdings, including Abraxas Petroleum and Burlington Resources, this was not enough to counteract the losses.
It is disappointing to have to report such unsatisfactory performance after the Fund had outperformed its benchmark every year since 1997, but for the 4th quarter of 2004 the Fund outperformed its benchmark by 3.25% ..
| N-CSR | 27th "Page" of 72 | TOC | 1st | Previous | Next | Bottom | Just 27th |
|---|
GAMerica Capital Fund
STATEMENT OF INVESTMENTS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004
| MARKET | ||||
| VALUE | ||||
| HOLDINGS | DESCRIPTION | US$ | ||
|
|
|
|
||
| EQUITIES – 98.4% | ||||
| AUTOMOBILES & | ||||
| COMPONENTS – 5.2% | ||||
| 148,800 | Keystone Automotive Industries | 3,459,600 | ||
| 5,312 | LKQ | 106,612 | ||
|
|
||||
| 3,566,212 | ||||
|
|
||||
| CAPITAL GOODS – 8.9% | ||||
| *40,000 | Gerber Scientific | 304,400 | ||
| *374,060 | Power-One | 3,336,615 | ||
| *26,400 | Titan | 427,680 | ||
| *40,000 | Trex | 2,097,600 | ||
|
|
||||
| 6,166,295 | ||||
|
|
||||
| CONSUMER DURABLES & | ||||
| APPAREL – 1.6% | ||||
| *288,560 | Foamex International | 1,084,985 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,084,985 | ||||
|
|
||||
| DIVERSIFIED FINANCIALS – 4.7% |
||||
| 32,000 | Bear Stearns Companies | 3,273,920 | ||
|
|
||||
| 3,273,920 | ||||
|
|
||||
| ENERGY – 6.9% | ||||
| *600,000 | Abraxas Petroleum | 1,392,000 | ||
| 77,000 | Burlington Resources | 3,349,500 | ||
|
|
||||
| 4,741,500 | ||||
|
|
||||
| FOOD, BEVERAGE & | ||||
| TOBACCO – 4.1% | ||||
| 105,000 | Delta & Pine Land | 2,864,400 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,864,400 | ||||
|
|
||||
| HEALTH CARE EQUIPMENT & | ||||
| SERVICES – 1.7% | ||||
| 7,208 | Alcon | 580,965 | ||
| *797,759 | Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals | 145,891 | ||
| *7,800 | Sierra Health Services | 429,858 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,156,714 | ||||
|
|
||||
| INSURANCE – 20.6% | ||||
| 35,898 | American International Group | 2,357,422 | ||
| 44,000 | Chubb | 3,383,600 | ||
| 41,500 | Infinity Property & Casualty | 1,460,800 | ||
| 122,500 | Scottish Re Group | 3,172,750 | ||
| 50,000 | XL Capital A | 3,882,500 | ||
|
|
||||
| 14,257,072 | ||||
|
|
||||
| MEDIA – 0.1% | ||||
| *40,000 | Edgar Online | 61,600 | ||
|
|
||||
| 61,600 | ||||
|
|
||||
| PHARMACEUTICALS & | ||||
| BIOTECHNOLOGY – 11.5% | ||||
| 68,000 | Merck | 2,185,520 | ||
| *267,825 | Neopharm | 3,350,491 | ||
| 46,200 | Pfizer | 1,242,318 | ||
| 27,200 | Wyeth | 1,158,448 | ||
|
|
||||
| 7,936,777 | ||||
|
|
||||
| REAL ESTATE – 4.3% | ||||
| *43,000 | Education Management | 1,419,430 | ||
| 57,000 | Maguire Properties | 1,565,220 | ||
|
|
||||
| 2,984,650 | ||||
|
|
||||
| RETAILING – 22.4% | ||||
| 36,000 | Best Buy | 2,139,120 | ||
| *107,632 | Conn’s | 1,810,370 | ||
| 123,000 | Dollar General | 2,554,710 | ||
| 200,077 | Fred’s A | 3,481,340 | ||
| 185,000 | United Auto Group | 5,474,150 | ||
|
|
||||
| 15,459,690 | ||||
|
|
||||
| SEMICONDUCTORS & | ||||
| SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT – 0.8% | ||||
| *20,000 | Advanced Power Technology | 154,800 | ||
| *25,000 | AMIS Holdings | 413,000 | ||
|
|
||||
| 567,800 | ||||
|
|
||||
| SOFTWARE & SERVICES – 1.7% | ||||
| *50,000 | Retalix | 1,093,000 | ||
| *100,000 | Serviceware Technologies | 58,000 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,151,000 | ||||
|
|
||||
| TELECOMMUNICATION | ||||
| SERVICES – 0.0% | ||||
| *†#408 | Globalstar Base Creditor | 2,959 | ||
| *†#396 | Globalstar Series A | 2,095 | ||
| *†#49 | Globalstar Total Release | 355 | ||
| *†#87,000 | Worldcom | 870 | ||
| *†#3,480 | Worldcom – MCI Group | 35 | ||
|
|
||||
| 6,314 | ||||
|
|
||||
| TRANSPORTATION – 2.4% | ||||
| *100,000 | USA Truck | 1,700,000 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,700,000 | ||||
|
|
||||
| UTILITIES – 1.5% | ||||
| 62,537 | Williams Companies | 1,018,728 | ||
|
|
||||
| 1,018,728 | ||||
|
|
||||
| Total Equities (Cost $51,896,029) | 67,997,657 | |||
|
|
||||
| TIME DEPOSITS – 1.9% | ||||
| NASSAU – 1.9% | ||||
| 1,270,916 | Citibank (Nassau) | |||
| 1.60%, 2005-01-03 | 1,270,916 | |||
|
|
||||
| Total Time Deposits (Cost $1,270,916) | 1,270,916 | |||
|
|
||||
| Total Investments (Cost $53,166,945) – 100.3% | 69,268,573 | |||
| Liabilities in Excess of Other Assets – (0.3%) | (174,660 | ) | ||
|
|
||||
| Total Net Assets – 100.0% | 69,093,913 | |||
|
|
||||
| * | Non-income producing security. | |
| † | Illiquid security. | |
| # | Fair valued security. | |
| See notes to financial statements. | ||
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|
GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
|
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2004 (UNAUDITED) |
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GAM Gabelli Long/Short Fund
FUND MANAGEMENT
![]() |
Mario J. Gabelli, CFA, is Chairman of Gabelli Asset Management, Inc., a mutual fund investment adviser and holding company for Gabelli Asset Management Company (GAMCO Investors, Inc.), a money management subsidiary; Gabelli Funds, LLC, a mutual fund investment advisor; Gabelli Fixed Income, LLC; and Gabelli & Company, Inc., a broker/dealer, investment research subsidiary. Mr Gabelli began his career in 1967 as an analyst with the investment banking firm of Loeb, Rhoades & Co. before joining research firm William D Witter in 1975. In 1977, he formed Gabelli & Company, Inc. Mr Gabelli is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts, a graduate of Fordham University and received an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Roger Williams University. |
The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation, generally through investment in equity securities of selected large, mid, and small-capitalization North American companies. Under normal conditions, the Fund will have both long and short positions in equity securities, primarily common stocks. However, if the Fund determines that the long-term capital appreciation of debt securities may equal or exceed the return on equity securities, it may be substantially invested in debt securities of companies and governments, their agencies and instrumentalities. Any income realized by the Fund on its investments will be incidental to its goal of long-term capital appreciation.
REPORT TO SHAREHOLDERS (UNAUDITED)
THE FACTS – CLASS A SHARES
| GAM | |||||||
| Gabelli | |||||||
| Long/Short | |||||||
| GAM | Class A (after | Average | |||||
| Gabelli | maximum | S&P | 1 Month | ||||
| Long/Short | sales load | Comp | Deposit | ||||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | Rate | ||||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 9.12 | US$ 9.65 | 1,211.92 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 10.41 | 4.34 | 9.22 | 0.50 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 10.28 | 4.21 | 10.90 | 1.36 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 years to December 2004 | 11.54 | 8.43 | 19.44 | ` | 1.26 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception | (3.49 | ) | (5.58 | ) | 6.98 | 1.35 | |
Performance is calculated on a total return basis. Class A, B and C inception was on 29th May, 2002. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.
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NOTE: The graph compares the performance results of a hypothetical $10,000 investment in Class A and a comparable index. The performance of Class A is shown after adjustment to reflect the maximum sales load, which is waived for certain investors. The performance of the index does not reflect brokerage commissions and other expenses that would be incurred to acquire a comparable portfolio of securities. The performance tables and graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.
The Standard and Poor’s Composite Index is an unmanaged weighted index of the stock performance of 500 industrial, transportation, utility and financial companies. The percentage change in the value of the index includes dividends reinvested.
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN – CLASS A
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE – CLASS A
| GAM Gabelli | ||||
| Long/Short | ||||
| Class A | ||||
| (after | Standard & | |||
| GAM Gabelli | maximum | Poor’s | ||
| Long/Short | sales load | Composite | ||
| Class A | of 5.50%) | Index | ||
| Year | % | % | % | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2003 | 12.82 | 6.62 | 28.64 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2004 | 10.28 | 4.21 | 10.90 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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GAM Gabelli Long/Short Fund
THE FACTS – CLASS B SHARES
| GAM | ||||||
| Gabelli | ||||||
| GAM | Long/Short | Average | ||||
| Gabelli | Class B (with | S&P | 1 Month | |||
| Long/Short | deferred | Comp | Deposit | |||
| Class B | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 9.05 | 1,211.92 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 10.10 | 5.10 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 9.56 | 4.56 | 10.90 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 years to December, 2004 | 11.19 | 9.38 | 19.44 | 1.26 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | (3.78 | ) | (4.91 | ) | 6.98 | 1.35 |
THE FACTS – CLASS C SHARES
| GAM | ||||||
| Gabelli | ||||||
| GAM | Long/Short | Average | ||||
| Gabelli | Class C | S&P | 1 Month | |||
| Long/Short | (with deferred | Comp | Deposit | |||
| Class C | sales charge) | Index | Rate | |||
| 31 December, 2004 | US$ 9.04 | 1,211.92 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| % | % | % | % | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quarter to December, 2004 | 10.11 | 9.11 | 9.22 | 0.50 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jan – December, 2004 | 9.58 | 8.58 | 10.90 | 1.36 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS: | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 years to December, 2004 | 11.21 | 11.21 | 19.44 | 1.26 | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Since inception* | (3.82 | ) | (3.82 | ) | 6.98 | 1.35 |
EXPENSE DISCLOSURE
HYPOTHETICAL $1,000 INVESTMENT
As a shareholder of the Fund, you can incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds. The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period from 1st July, 2004 to 31st December, 2004.
The first line in the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over a period.
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds by comparing this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples of other