The International Growth Fund returned +3.1% in August, 0.8% ahead of the benchmark index, which returned 2.3%.   

Software has been under pressure over the past year as investors questioned whether AI models such as Claude and ChatGPT could erode the value of enterprise software. We view the risk as real but likely overestimated, and the recent recovery in software shares was encouraging. Salesforce (+40%) was our largest contributor. Its result helped ease concerns that AI could make business software redundant: revenue was in line with expectations, customer losses remained near record lows, seats grew, and bookings accelerated. The launch of Claudeforce with Anthropic also suggests AI labs may work through enterprise software platforms rather than displace them. Tyler (+22%) also delivered record bookings, up 21%, and has now repurchased 5% of its shares this year. Microsoft (+9%) built on its strong July result and benefited from improved sector sentiment. 

Regulation came back into focus in the final week, cutting both ways. The FTC and 22 states sued Amazon (-4%) on 31 August over hidden surcharges in its advertising auctions, alleging more than a million sellers were overcharged by tens of billions. Amazon rejects it, but it lands just before the bigger FTC antitrust trial on its marketplace in October. Meta (+3%) went the other way, settling with 47 states over teen addiction claims for up to US$17.1 billion, plus time limits and new defaults for under-18s.  The Meta settlement drew a line under several years of overhang related to this issue.