By Annabel Brodie-Smith
Well, it’s been quite a week… The bears are growling, with markets heading south due to the impact of the coronavirus and an oil price war kicking off. Contingency plans for us to work from home are being refined in case of travel restrictions. Most annoyingly but not surprisingly, my husband’s fiftieth birthday trip to Venice at the beginning of April is now definitely off. I’m pleased to say I have got a full refund so that’s a small consolation in a rather miserable week.
We are currently drinking tea, keeping calm and carrying on. Experienced investors know that stressed markets often offer good buying opportunities. Of course, none of us know what markets will do next but taking a long-term view of your investments is crucial. Personally, I’m a big fan of regular investing as it saves me having to decide when is the right time to invest. I just carry on investing come hell or high water. It’s also worth remembering that investment companies have more than 150 years of heritage and have survived World War I, World War II, the Great Depression and the Financial Crisis. This week I have been talking to UK Smaller Companies managers about the impact of coronavirus, post-Brexit Britain and a lot more. Over ten years to the end of February, UK smaller companies was one of best-performing investment company sectors up 303%. To market close on 12th March the UK smaller companies sector was up 232% over ten years. The discount to the asset value was 7%, widening from 3% at the end of December. Despite the market falls, the managers remain confident of smaller companies’ ability to outperform over the long term and some even have some cash ready to invest at some stage. To find out more watch the videos of Stuart Widdowson, Co-Manager of Odyssean Investment Trust and Jonathan Brown, Co-Manager of Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies. The views of these managers alongside Dan Whitestone of BlackRock Throgmorton and Charles Montanaro of Montanaro UK Smaller Companies, are all collated in our article. Our investment expert, Ian Cowie is also diving into smaller companies this month. He has sadly missed out on the UK smaller company success stories but has been investing in Japanese smaller companies and has a new holding in JPMorgan Japanese Smaller Companies.
Interview with Jonathan Brown, Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust
Interview with Stuart Widdowson, Odyssean Investment Trust
Finally, it’s ISA season and a tax-free £20,000 investment is not to be missed out on. We have asked three financial advisers to put together their ISA recommendations for millennials, middle-aged and retired investors. There are lots of well-known companies you might know like Scottish Mortgage and F&C Investment Trust, as well as the more unusual and ‘zeitgeisty’ Hipgnosis, which purchases songs and receives royalties rights.
Hope everyone keeps smiling and healthy!
See you next month.
Annabel Brodie-Smith Communications Director, AIC
