By Annabel Brodie-Smith
Well, after perhaps a too good Christmas break…it’s back to work for me. After the excesses and indulgences of last month I’m aiming to have a healthier January and so is Compass. We’re looking at the investment companies investing in biotech and healthcare.
Our investment expert, Ian Cowie explains “despite sickly returns from many shares in 2018” this sector performed well, delivering a positive return of 7.7% versus a 3.4% loss for the average investment company. Ian analyses his biotech investment companies and has a new addition to his portfolio. Considering the defensive nature of these companies he writes they “could be just what the doctor ordered to calm nerves and deliver healthy returns in future.”
The managers of Polar Capital Global Healthcare, Daniel Mahony, Gareth Powell and James Douglas, make a strong case for investing in large defensive healthcare stocks. Healthcare is going through a structural disruption which will create winners and losers and will involve “nudging patients, persuading doctors, corralling politicians and influencing payers.” The challenge and opportunity for these managers “is to find companies and management teams that are adapting to a rapidly changing healthcare landscape.”
For something completely different, journalist Jayna Rana is looking at why younger people are "demotivated and delusional" about investing and why investing early is “the most important thing.” I can’t imagine many of our readers are in their 20s (please do let me know if I’m wrong) but you may well have family or friends in this age group who need a nudge to start investing and this is the article for them. Our video, “Your investment journey" is also a good place to start for someone new to investing.
Your investment journey
Finally, the new 2019 Investment Trust Handbook is out. This includes a wide range of insights from lots of industry experts from our longest serving manager, Peter Spiller of Capital Gearing, to Alex Wright of Fidelity Special Values. If you are interested in purchasing a copy please get in touch with the publisher, Harriman House.
Wishing you all the best for 2019!
Annabel Brodie-Smith Communications Director, AIC
