By Annabel Brodie-Smith
It has been very depressing to see the situation in Ukraine developing. The devastation of people’s lives alongside the bravery of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people and in Russia, the mass arrests of protesters are very upsetting. We have been thinking hard about what we can do to help.
What is your outlook for inflation going forward and how will the situation in Ukraine impact inflation?
Markets have of course been affected by events in Ukraine and Ian Cowie, our investment guru is on hand to help us make sense of the impact on our investments. Investors may well find it reassuring that “no fewer than 24 investment companies survived both World Wars and continue to see their shares traded on stock markets today.” Ian highlights the breadth of diversification that his portfolio of investment companies offers from Vietnam Enterprise Investments to Gore Street Energy Storage.
As Ian explains, investment companies, with their long history, have survived many wars and crises. There are 30 investment companies which would have made you an ISA millionaire, if you had invested your full ISA allowance in them each year since 1999. This really demonstrates the benefits of long-term saving and interestingly, the millionaire list has a bias towards investment companies investing in technology and smaller companies. HgCapital Trust which invests mainly in unquoted software and services businesses came top, generating a return of £2,062,931 and this was followed closely by Scottish Mortgage, with a return of £2,046,762 and Allianz Technology with £1,746,012.
With the Consumer Prices Index already running hot at 5.5%, the war in Ukraine has only added to the current inflationary pressures. Russia is the second largest producer of oil so it’s hardly surprising that the oil price has hit $119 dollars a barrel this week and gas and wheat prices have also soared to multi-year highs. The concern is that higher prices drive wage inflation and the dreaded wage-price cycle continues, pushing inflation ever higher. This week, I talked to three managers about inflation and what influence Ukraine will have on it, Charlotte Yonge of Personal Assets Trust, Ben Ritchie of Dunedin Income Growth and Nick Brind of Polar Capital Global Financials. Do watch our webinar or read our article on this, which includes comments from Hamish Baillie at Ruffer Investment Company.
Finally, next Tuesday is International Women’s Day and Faith Glasgow has talked to some of our top female analysts and managers including Emma Bird from Winterflood, Sue Noffke, manager of Schroder Income Growth and Abby Glennie, who manages Abrdn’s Smaller Companies Income trust. Faith finds out what women bring to the investment company sector and what the industry is doing to encourage more female managers.
"The recently published FTSE Women Leaders Review revealed that investment companies account for almost half of the 92 FTSE 250 company boards with more than 40% female board members."
There is some good news as the recently published FTSE Women Leaders Review revealed that investment companies account for almost half of the 92 FTSE 250 company boards with more than 40% female board members. Things have really changed for the better as when I joined the industry, twenty-four and a half years ago, fewer than 5% of directors were women. It was a big shock for me as I had previously worked in a diverse and trendy PR agency, with a bar in reception. There’s still more work to do but I’m pleased to say that now 35% of investment company directors are women.
On a personal front the daffodils are now out – hurray! Also we now have hot water and heating at the barn after Storm Eunice broke the boiler which took a whole week to mend, possibly the longest week of my life!
Wishing you a good month.
Annabel Brodie-Smith Communications Director, AIC
