Investors Chronicle

Few UK small cap investment trusts trade on a premium to their net assets, but Odyssean Investment Trust is currently one of them. In this interview, manager Stuart Widdowson explains why he brings a private equity mindset to public markets, how he seeks to spot special situations and how he feels about the current investment outlook. He also talks through the investment case for some of his holdings, shares which books have been most influential for his investment approach and explains why he tends to avoid participating in IPOs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wild stock market movements such as those seen with ‘meme’ stocks last year make investing look like an exciting or treacherous roller coaster - depending on your perspective. But the truth is, successful investing should be disciplined and boring - as you slowly let your money grow.The trouble is, there are thousands of stocks and funds to pick between. In this podcast, Mary McDougall speaks with the IC's funds editor Dave Baxter and IG's analyst and presenter Daniela Sabin to find out how much you should invest, what your options are, why diversification matters and how to pick between an active or passive strategy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We’re kicking off 2022 with a double interview. Firstly, everyone’s favourite stock picking expert Simon Thompson is on the pod to discuss the feature he’s written this week: Secrets of Successful Investing. Then IC properties writer Alex Newman joins us off the back of a busy week, with the government asking housebuilders for a 4-billion-pound plan to resolve the unsafe cladding crisis, and a peer-to-peer property lender launching in the UK. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you want to kickstart the year by sorting out your finances? Frightened of the stock market and unsure where to start? Investing can seem complicated, confusing and downright scary, but get it right and it’s a powerful tool for growing your wealth.Over a series of ten weekly podcasts, we’ll be breaking down the complexities of the financial world to help you learn about how you can build yourself a better future through sensible investing.  Our first podcast covers why you should invest, with Investors’ Chronicle’s Mary McDougall in conversation with Jeremy Naylor, presenter at IG and financial wellbeing expert Jason Butler. Hear their views on how to establish an investment plan, how it fits within your wider finances and why it’s best to start as early as you can. They also discuss the role of crypto in an investment portfolio, why you need to be careful when using social media and how to avoid being ripped off by financial institutions. This podcast is sponsored by IG. See

Being a contrarian investor has been a tough gig over much of the past decade but Alex Wright, manager of Fidelity Special Values (FSV) and Fidelity Special Situations believes the best way of making money is to go against the consensus. In this interview, he tells Mary McDougall how he identifies mispriced assets, what he has been buying and selling recently and in what sectors he sees the best opportunities. He also explains how he mitigates the challenges faced by value investors. The interview was recorded on 8 December.  00:00 - Intro00:55 - What did you learn from Anthony Bolton?02:17 - Investing style03:33 - Process for spotting mispriced assets04:33 - How intangibles affect thinking05:23 - Avoiding value traps07:23 - Turnarounds08:50 - Recent fund performance and current outlook11:24 - What have you been buying and selling recently?14:17 - Inflation impact17:42 - Fund turnover19:10 - Challenge of needing lots of investment ideas20:09 - Need for a large portfolio21:54 - Pricing methodolo

The private equity sector may have generated very strong returns in recent history but many investors are yet to be won over. That's one interpretation of the fact that many of the private equity investment trusts available in the UK have had a stellar run of performance but still see their shares languish on substantial discounts to the value of portfolio assets.Steven Tredget, who works on Oakley Capital Investments (OCI), tells Dave Baxter about the trust's great performance in recent years, the processes behind it and its future prospects. But he also takes aim at those who obsess over share price discounts, warning that this can only prolong the problem.He also discusses the spate of private equity acquisition activity of 2021, and makes the case for private equity as an ESG-friendly asset class.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Terry Smith, founder and chief executive of Fundsmith, has built the UK’s largest actively-managed fund via rigorous implementation of the simple mantra 'buy good companies, don’t overpay, do nothing'.In this interview, Smith tells Mary McDougall how he analyses and selects companies, how the rise of software has folded into his investment thinking and what trends he thinks currently look most promising.He also talks about the extent to which fund size is a challenge going forward, and what spurred him to buy Amazon (US:AMZN) this summer.Fundsmith Equity Fund has delivered an annualised total return of 18.4 per cent since its inception in November 2010, compared with 12.8 per cent for its benchmark MSCI World Index. It had assets under management of £27.9bn on 30 November 2021.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ian Mortimer and Matthew Page, managers of the Guinness Global Equity Income fund, take a different approach from some income managers by seeking companies with a "moderate yield and growing dividend" rather than chasing higher payouts.They talk to Dave Baxter about how this approach has worked in different scenarios and their view on the outlook for dividends - from surprisingly resilient sectors to their relative lack of exposure to Asia.The managers also tackle the thorny issue of inflation and make the case for quality dividend-payers as a buffer in a time of rising prices, while addressing questions about performance.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sam Cosh, manager of European Assets Trust (EAT), tells Leonora Walters why this trust is able to increase its dividend for 2021, and profiles some of the investments which are making this possible. He also explains how he selects stocks, and highlights holdings which should do well going forward despite the pressure of the pandemic.European Assets Trust, launched in 1983, has a market capitalisation of £518m and paid a yield of 5.5 per cent on 17 November, according to Winterflood data.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The latest episode of Connected Investor, the podcast from the Brunner Investment Trust, ponders the issue of tightening regulatory factors in China – what will that mean for China itself, the fortunes of companies and markets there and ultimately for the global economy and markets? To see the full podcast series visit https://www.brunner.co.uk/podcast/.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Iain McCombie, manager of Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust tells Mary McDougall how he tries to source the best growth opportunities among UK stocks and divulges what he has been buying and selling most recently. He shares his thought process behind owning St James’ Place, Hargreaves Lansdown, Boohoo.com and Rightmove among other holdings and explains why the trust recently sought approval to invest in unquoted companies.  Iain has co-managed Baillie Gifford UK Growth Trust since June 2018 and is lead manager of Baillie Gifford’s UK core strategy. He is also a manager on a number of global funds and became a partner at Baillie Gifford in 2005.     See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the latest budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak opened by stating that the UK’s public finances are twice as sensitive to changes in interest rates as they were before the pandemic, and that a 1 per cent increase in inflation and interest rates would cost around £23bn.Clearly there is a political imperative to keep the cost of borrowing down, as Hamish Baillie, lead manager of Ruffer Investment Company (RICA) explains in this week’s podcast. He spells out why he thinks long-term disinflationary forces are waning and why he’s preparing for a period of enduring inflation. Speaking with the IC’s Mary McDougall, he defends putting up with -2 per cent real yields on long-dated index-linked gilts and talks through Ruffer’s thought process behind buying bitcoin in November 2020 and selling out entirely by April 2021. They also discuss the outlook for some the UK's largest banks and energy companies.Ruffer Investment Company is a multi asset “all weather portfolio” designed to deliver a positive return in all

Paul Jourdan, CEO of Amati Global Investors, tells Christopher Akers why he thinks the Alternative Investment Market is an asset of national importance and shares his thoughts on overpricing in "the year of IPOs". He explains Amati's approach to ESG and discusses the stocks that have been important for them over the last year.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Financials make up around 15 per cent of global equities, and despite a recent surge the sector remains at a significant discount to the wider market. In this interview, Nick Brind and George Barrow, co-managers of Polar Capital Global Financials Trust (PCFT), tell Mary McDougall how banks look well placed to benefit from any rise in interest rates.They discuss what impact a rise in rates might have on bad debts, what pockets of the financials sector look most attractive, why they have avoided owning Chinese banks and what their outlook is for HSBC.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Indian stock market has been on a tear this year, up 30 per cent for the year to 6 October. While this has led to some concern about lofty valuations, David Cornell of India Capital Growth Fund (IGC) says there are still plenty of attractive opportunities for stock pickers, as India emerges from years of disappointing growth in corporate profitability.He explains how a change in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies should help attract more foreign investors going forward, how retail stock market participation is growing and why he’s not worried yet about the power crunch in India.David shares how he searches for high growth, high quality small and mid cap companies which he expects to have annual earnings growth of 30 per cent over the next two years, and also why he’s not yet tempted to invest in unlisted companies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon Brewer, former chief investment officer of the European branch of Morgan Stanley, tells Mary McDougall where he thinks investors should look in a world of very low rates and the possibility of prolonged inflation.He explains why he likes UK stocks, why he is wary of private equity and questions if it is worth private investors holding bonds at all. He also spells out why he thinks China is still investible, why investors should consider gold and why he’s yet to dip his toes into the crypto world.Simon is currently senior adviser to Rothschild & Co and host of The Money Maze podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Blake Hutchins, co-manager of Troy Income & Growth Trust and Trojan Income Fund, explains where he has been finding UK equity income in a difficult environment and how the market looks set going ahead. He explains why he prefers what he considers to be good quality companies, and highlights some stocks he thinks will be able to grow their cash flows.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Investors' Chronicle's economist Chris Dillow tells Mary McDougall why he’s not worried about prolonged inflation and why he thinks the central bank is right to keep monetary policy loose.He also shares his wisdom on lead indicators that can help you understand when you should consider buying and selling, and why thinks private equity is an important part of most investment portfolios.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Azeem Azhar is a renowned thought-leader, entrepreneur and investor in the tech industry. In this podcast, he talks to Lauren Almeida about the exponential rate of tech development and how society - and investors - can keep up.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From internet giants like Alibaba (US:BABA) to education and property companies, the recent regulatory crackdown in China has sent many leading Asia stocks into a tailspin. Is this an investment opportunity, a warning or a simple reminder of the risks in the developing world?In this chat with Dave Baxter, Asia and emerging market fund manager and Somerset Capital partner Mark Williams looks at what recent events mean for investors, and where potential winners and losers might be found.Note: some technical issues may affect the sound quality of this episode at points. Also, our guest's reference to a sell-off from 2005 was actually a reference to the Chinese equity sell-of 2015.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.