To help investors spread their risks across different sectors we have categorised each investment into a sector and sub-sectors.  The main sectors are:

property

This includes land, commercial property and residential property and includes both freehold and leasehold interests.  In addition to these standard sub-sectors there are hotel rooms, car parks and burial plots.

securities

This includes equities and fixed interest securities issued by companies.  Fixed interest securities include corporate bonds, debentures and loan notes.

commodities

These are raw materials or basic food and similar grown products that can be bought and sold.  Commodities include gold, oil, rice and coffee.  The main sub-sectors are gold, other precious metals, fine wine, agriculture and forestry.

energy

This covers investments that are linked to generating energy including solar energy, wind power, biomass generators, etc.  The main sub-sectors are renewable energy and solid fuel energy.

financial instruments

This includes derivatives, foreign exchange contracts and similar complex financial instruments.

mixed

Investments that fall into at least two of the above categories, e.g. an exchange traded commodity would fall under both securities and commodities and may even fall under financial instruments.

other

These are investments that do not fit into any of the above categories.