The Franklin Growth Fund has been an exceptional and consistent US equity fund going back to its launch in 1948.

Franklin's signature investment philosophy is to be a patient long-term investor in industry leaders or emerging industry leaders and seek to generate a superior risk-adjusted return and lower volatility than traditional growth funds. The fund has transparent processes and strategies that feed into this overarching objective.

A key differentiator in its portfolio constriction is a sector focus towards industrials, including aerospace and defense, road and rail, while historically underweighting more cyclical financials and energy. The stock selection focuses on a fundamental, bottom-up research process and incorporates. The team has various internal risk management constraints regarding securities weight, sector allocation, and relative tracking error.

ESG analysis and various sustainability measures. The objective is to evaluate risks to the company's long-term valuation to support high-conviction stock selection. Integration includes various sustainability measures on company structure and intangible asset management. Contacts with investees/potential investees are at the analysts' and the manager's discretion, which outcome may be affected by the depth of the individual team member.

The fund delivered an excellent performance with net returns of more than 301 points above the benchmark on a 1Y and 3Y period but the Portfolio Manager turnover at 30-35% in the past 12 months raises potential concerns over ensuring investment style consistency.

This fund has been reviewed by three industry veterans of the Benchmark judging committee.