Where next for UK small caps
Neil Hermon, Portfolio Manager of The Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust talks about the performance of UK small caps year-to-date, areas where he is finding opportunities, risks to the UK market, and his approach to ESG.
Key Takeaways
- The Trust has had a tricky 2022 so far, with investor sentiment largely driven by concerns over higher inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the threat of higher interest rates in the face of slowing global growth.
- Despite higher equity market volatility, we still have a very low portfolio turnover. We are long-term investors focused on the fundamentals of a business - so we will use this period of down markets to top up our positions.
- We focus on quality growth-orientated businesses; as a result, our portfolio consists of companies with good ESG credentials. We believe that engagement is the key to ensuring that our portfolio companies deliver on the improvements they are making towards Environmental, Social and Governance issues
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These are the views of the author at the time of publication and may differ from the views of other individuals/teams at Janus Henderson Investors. Any securities, funds, sectors and indices mentioned within this article do not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to buy or sell them.
Past performance does not predict future returns. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the amount originally invested.
The information in this article does not qualify as an investment recommendation.
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Important information
Please read the following important information regarding funds related to this article.
- If a Company's portfolio is concentrated towards a particular country or geographical region, the investment carries greater risk than a portfolio diversified across more countries.
- Most of the investments in this portfolio are in smaller companies shares. They may be more difficult to buy and sell and their share price may fluctuate more than that of larger companies.
- This Company is suitable to be used as one component in several in a diversified investment portfolio. Investors should consider carefully the proportion of their portfolio invested into this Company.
- Active management techniques that have worked well in normal market conditions could prove ineffective or detrimental at other times.
- The Company could lose money if a counterparty with which it trades becomes unwilling or unable to meet its obligations to the Company.
- Shares can lose value rapidly, and typically involve higher risks than bonds or money market instruments. The value of your investment may fall as a result.
- The return on your investment is directly related to the prevailing market price of the Company's shares, which will trade at a varying discount (or premium) relative to the value of the underlying assets of the Company. As a result losses (or gains) may be higher or lower than those of the Company's assets.
- The Company may use gearing as part of its investment strategy. If the Company utilises its ability to gear, the profits and losses incured by the Company can be greater than those of a Company that does not use gearing.
- Derivatives use exposes the Company to risks different from, and potentially greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and may therefore result in additional loss, which could be significantly greater than the cost of the derivative.
Specific risks
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