The £570m VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (LON:VOF) has just announced a strong set of half-year results for the six months to the end of December. VOF’s NAV was up by 10.9% in US dollar terms over the period, which was well ahead of the 3% increase in the benchmark, and it has continued to do…
The stock market is driven by investor sentiment with share prices often trading nowhere near their true fundamental value. One way to take advantage of this is to adopt a contrarian strategy and look for out-of-favour companies with the potential to turn things around. Those who rely on this approach use various techniques to identify…
The £1.7bn Witan Investment Trust (LON:WTAN) has recently announced a mixed set of results for 2016. It operates in the global growth sector and has a highly unusual mandate as the majority of the portfolio has been outsourced to ten third-party managers. Over the course of the year it generated a creditable NAV total return…
The sharp fall in the value of the pound since the EU referendum has provided a major boost to the performance of internationally diversified funds. One of the biggest beneficiaries has been the Murray International Trust (MYI), which has just announced its annual results for the year to the end of December. Murray International operates…
RIT Capital Partners (LON:RCP), the highly regarded investment trust chaired by Lord Rothschild, has recently released its annual results for 2016 and confirmed that it is maintaining its defensive positioning. The £2.9bn fund began life as the Rothschild Investment Trust and was set up to manage part of the wealth of the UK branch of…
As an investor it is always reassuring to know that the fund manager and members of the Board have significant amounts of their own money invested alongside you. Without wishing to sound too cynical, this is the best guarantee that you can get that they will be acting in everyone’s best interests. Canaccord Genuity has…
One of the areas worst affected by Brexit was UK small and mid-cap companies, which sold off heavily in the immediate aftermath of the referendum. These sorts of businesses tend to be more reliant on the health of the country’s economy than the multi-nationals in the FTSE 100 and their share prices have recovered strongly…
It has been a decent start to the year on the markets with the FTSE 100 index up about 100 points (1.4%) year-to-date and the Dow climbing above 20,000 for the first time with a gain of over 600 points, or 3.1%. The indices provide a good idea of the direction and speed of travel,…
We all know that we should aim for a well-diversified portfolio, but that is easier said than done given the high correlations between most of the main asset classes. The tendency for different securities to move in unison is particularly acute during a sharp market sell-off, which is precisely when you need your more defensive…
The investment industry is often criticised for its sharp practices and lack of transparency, so it makes a nice change to be able to report on a welcome bout of honesty. This is particularly the case when the disclosure is entirely voluntary and made for the long-term benefit of investors. It concerns the £140m Lindsell…
