by Nick Britton
How was your summer? Mine was an opportunity to switch off as many screens as possible, read some books, take a few walks and, I have to admit, eat and drink a little more than I probably do in the average week.
But fortunately for investors in the tech sector, not everyone shares my simple tastes. Catharine Flood, client services director at Scottish Mortgage is undoubtedly correct when she talks about a “paradigm shift in the global economy to a ubiquitously mobile, digitally interconnected world.” This month, we hear from Scottish Mortgage, Bankers, Brunner and Mid Wynd International about the opportunities in technology companies and why they believe investors cannot afford to miss out, despite valuations that appear high by conventional metrics.
While I was ambling over the Wiltshire and Oxfordshire countryside, Alasdair McKinnon, manager of the Scottish Investment Trust, was sampling the more sophisticated pleasures of New York.
He writes a thought-provoking piece about whether the “American empire” is showing “signs of decadence”, and argues that “investors’ indiscriminate appetite for technology and for growth at all costs might need to be drastically reappraised as the era of cheap money comes to an end”. (Never let it be said we don’t bring you contrasting viewpoints in Spotlight.)
Over the next few days, I’ll swap my walking boots for my wheelie case as we get ready for the autumn training season. We are visiting Edinburgh, Guildford, Knutsford and Birmingham with some very interesting portfolio managers, and will be looking at the ways in which investment companies are adapting to the needs of today’s investors.
There is still time to book for any of these seminars. Dates and times are below, and we hope to see you there.
All the best for a productive and successful autumn.
Nick Britton, Head of Training, AIC
13 September AIC Seminar (Edinburgh)
9:30 – 12:30. Speakers: Hamish Baillie (Ruffer Investment Company), Matt Brett (BG Japan Trust), Paul Niven (F&C Investment Trust), Nick Britton (AIC).
11 October AIC Seminar (Guildford)
9:30 – 12:30. Speakers: James Hart (Witan Investment Trust), Sebastian Lyon (Personal Assets Trust), Jon Forster (Impax Environmental Markets), Nick Britton (AIC).
7 November AIC Seminar (Cheshire)
11:30 – 2:30. Speakers: Alex Crooke (Bankers Investment Trust), Judith McKenzie (Downing Strategic Micro-Cap Trust), Ross Teverson (Jupiter Emerging & Frontier Income), Nick Britton (AIC).
8 November AIC Seminar (Birmingham)
9:30 – 12:30. Speakers: Sam Cosh (European Assets Trust), Ben Rogoff (Polar Capital Technology Trust), Steve Tatters (Aurora Investment Trust), Nick Britton (AIC).
Some of the fund managers speaking at our autumn seminars