Interim Management Statement


 
TIDMTOPU 
 
MW TOPS Limited 
 
                          Interim Management Statement 
 
This  interim management statement relates to  the period from 1 October 2009 to 
the  date  of  publication  of  this  statement  and has been prepared solely to 
provide  additional information in order to meet the relevant requirement of the 
Transparency  Directive, and  should not  be relied  on by  shareholders, or any 
other party, for any other purpose. 
 
Overview 
 
MW  TOPS Limited (the "Company") is  a Guernsey registered, closed-ended limited 
liability  investment  company  listed  on  the  main market of the London Stock 
Exchange.The  Company's shares  are denominated  in Sterling,  Euro and US$. The 
investment  objective  of  MW  TOPS  Limited  is  to provide consistent absolute 
returns  primarily derived through trading in equities of companies incorporated 
in or whose principal operations are in Europe (including Eastern Europe). 
 
NAV Performance as at 29 January 2010 
 
                                                        Return since     29 Jan 
                  Final NAV 1 Oct-29 Jan     2010 YTD      inception 2010 Share 
                29 Jan 2010       return       return         (net)1      Price 
 
 Euro Share NAV       10.21       -0.97%        0.10%          2.10%       9.64 
 
 US$ Share NAV        10.07       -0.98%        0.00%          0.70%       9.65 
 
 Sterling Share 
 NAV                  10.34       -0.86%        0.10%          3.40%       9.76 
 
 MSCI AC Daily 
 TR Net Europe 
 Local Index          95.92        0.56%       -3.52%        -19.24%        N/A 
 
Note  1: Trading in  the fund  began on  the Euronext  Amsterdam Exchange on 13 
December  2006, with  an  opening  NAV  of  10.00 and includes issuance costs of 
approximately 1% of NAV. 
 
Source: Morgan Stanley Capital International ("MSCI") 
 
Investment Review by Marshall Wace LLP (the "Investment Manager") 
 
During Q4 2009, fears over a deeper global recession receded as the monetary and 
fiscal  policies of  various governments  supported the  return to  growth.  The 
improvement  in economic  activity, progress  in a  number of leading confidence 
indicators,  low interest rate  environment and injection  of liquidity into the 
financial system served as a fertile ground for global equity markets.  However, 
within  the Euro-zone, the recovery was  haphazard, with Germany and France most 
heavily benefiting from the cycle reversal while Spain remained convalescent and 
Greece  faced sovereign default in January  2010.  In addition, there were sharp 
sector rotations within European equity markets and high levels of dispersion at 
the  individual stock level.  It is  noteworthy that our composite early warning 
indicator  spiked  in  Q4  2009 from  a  relatively  benign 2 (the signal ranges 
between  1 and 5, where 5 is the highest level)  to a more risky 3 for the first 
time since March 2009.  This increase drove a de-risking programme within the MW 
TOPS Limited portfolio into year end. 
 
As  at 29 January 2010, the total assets of the Company were EUR155,678,976.  From 
1 October   2009 to  29 January  2010, the  Euro  NAV  returned  -0.97%  with  a 
volatility  of 1.47%.  This compares  favourably to the  European equity market, 
which  rose +0.56% over  the same period  but at the  expense of a volatility of 
13.68%.    The share  price performance  of the  three Share  Classes of MW TOPS 
Limited  from 1 October 2009-29 January  2010 was also pleasing,  with the Euro, 
US$ and GBP Share Classes returning +2.23%, +3.43% and +2.41% respectively.  The 
discount  to NAV of the London-listed shares narrowed markedly from mid-January, 
and  averaged -10.15% in the Euro line, -9.77% in the US$ line and -5.61% in the 
GBP  line across the  4 month period under  review.  At the  end of January, the 
respective  discounts of the three Share Classes were -5.63%, -4.17% and -5.61%. 
   We believe that this improvement reflects the NAV per share performance of MW 
TOPS  Limited during  the varied  market conditions  since its inception and the 
confidence  of investors, after  the market turmoil  of 2008, in the efficacy of 
the MW TOPS investment process. 
 
Contributors  to the MW TOPS system were defensively positioned in Q4 2009, with 
monthly  average levels  of net  and gross  market exposure  within the  MW TOPS 
Limited  portfolio both decreasing  steadily over the  period, before increasing 
again in January 2010. 
 
Marshall Wace LLP lost only a small number of contributors to the MW TOPS system 
as  a result  of the  large redundancies  made by  sell side  firms in 2009; the 
majority  of  individuals  who  left  the  system were removed by the Investment 
Manager  because they had consistently underperformed.  Indeed, during 2009, net 
portfolio  contributors were added in all  regions as Marshall Wace continues to 
target  pockets of alpha that we consider to be under-represented.  In addition, 
the  global trend of decreasing reliance  on large investment banks continued as 
we  solidified  and  broadened  our  links  with more local and regional brokers 
during  2009.  These smaller firms were more stable in terms of personnel during 
the  credit crisis, and tend to have greater breadth of coverage of their region 
or sector. 
 
During Q4 2009, Marshall Wace LLP invested substantially in its global execution 
and  trading  platform,  primarily  in  improving  technology  and  quantitative 
research  to promote the more automated,  predictable and cost effective trading 
of  the MW TOPS process-led strategy.  The real-time optimiser is constantly run 
to  re-forecast intra-day  volume, volatility,  spreads, stock  alpha, predicted 
impact cost, risk and overnight carry portfolios, while the scheduling algorithm 
continuously  attempts to change  market participation rates  to handle changing 
trading  portfolios and stock specific  market parameters.  Amongst the benefits 
delivered thus far are: 
 
  * A  20% reduction in the average commission rate paid by funds managed by the 
    Investment Manager compared to 2008 
 
  * A 25% reduction in execution shortfall versus impact forecast 
 
The MW TOPS Limited portfolio has benefited from these enhancements. 
 
Investment Allocation 
 
Up  to mid-December 2009, the  Company's assets were  allocated in the following 
approximate 
proportions to the relevant sub-trusts of Marshall Wace TOPS Trust: 
 
 
                                   % 
 
  Sub-Trust H (Balanced Europe)   10 
 
  Sub-Trust European TOPS         70 
 
  Sub-Trust N (Market Neutral)    20 
 
 
At  various dates  in December  2009, the Company  redeemed its  holdings in the 
sub-trusts  of  Marshall  Wace  TOPS  Trust,  and  invested  these assets in the 
equivalent sub-trusts of Marshall Wace Investment Strategies: 
 
 
                              % 
 
  Balanced TOPS Fund         10 
 
  European TOPS Fund         70 
 
  Market Neutral TOPS Fund   20 
 
 
Material events 
 
Other  than set out above, the Board is  not aware of any material events during 
the  period from  1 October 2009 to  the date  of this announcement, which would 
have had a material impact on the financial position of the Company. 
 
Investor Information 
 
The   latest   available   information  on  the  Company  can  be  accessed  via 
www.mwtops.eu. 
 
By order of the Board 
MW TOPS Limited 
Enquiries: 
Anson Fund Managers Limited - Tel +44 (0) 1481 722260 
 
16 February 2010 
 
This  announcement  is  for  information  purposes  only  and is not an offer to 
invest.  The Company  is registered  with the  Dutch Authority for the Financial 
Markets  as a collective investment scheme which may offer participations in The 
Netherlands  pursuant to article  2:66 of the Financial  Markets Supervision Act 
(Wet  op het financieel  toezicht).  All investments  are subject to risk.  Past 
performance  is  no  guarantee  of  future  returns.   Prospective investors are 
advised  to  seek  expert  legal,  financial,  tax and other professional advice 
before  making any investment decision.  The value of investments may fluctuate. 
 Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future results. 
 
E&OE - In Transmission 
 
END OF ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
 
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