Latest news with #NickTrain
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC: AI is the key to getting out of doldrums
Before the pandemic, Nick Train's Finsbury Growth & Income Trust reliably beat the market. But the past five years have not been kind to Train's concentrated buy-and-hold portfolio of well-known UK companies. Finsbury Growth & Income last beat the market in 2020, when its shares fell just 0.7 per cent in a year in which the UK stock market fell 11.6 per cent. Although the UK stock market staged a post-lockdown bounce, since then it has been out of favour and some of the big hitters in the Finsbury Growth & Income portfolio, such as Diageo, Burberry and Schroders, have been deeply unloved by investors. But Train is optimistic, saying he believes there is a cohort of more growth-orientated companies coming through in the UK that are world class and can profit from rapid advances in technology. While investors have focused on chasing up US tech giants' share prices amid the artificial intelligence boom, Train says they are some FTSE-listed companies that also offer a huge opportunity to profit from the application of AI. He says: 'If you look at the shape of Finsbury's portfolio over the past four or five years, there has definitely been a shift towards these London-listed data and data analytics software companies that seem to us to have an extraordinary opportunity ahead of them. And arguably a really intriguing valuation opportunity as well.' Chief among those is RELX, formerly Reed Elsevier. The information-based analytics provider for businesses is a global leader in its field and Train says that is reflected in how it has gone from the 68th largest company in the FTSE 100 in 2000 to sixth today. He says the next 20 years could be as good for RELX as the past two decades, citing its AI tool for lawyers delivering a 280 per cent return on investment for early adopters. Train says if this can be repeated in the scientific and drug research market, the potential for investors 'and humanity' is great. Among Train's other holdings that he believes can benefit from AI to improve their services and profits are property firm Rightmove and credit scorer Experian. He also took a rare new position last year, buying into the world's largest shipping broker Clarkson. He says it is a 'truly world class UK company with a clear opportunity to use technology to create new value.' Though the UK stock market has staged a recent resurgence, with the FTSE 100 up 11 per cent since the start of the year, Finsbury has continued to lag, with a return of just 0.3 per cent. The trust has a share price total return of 9.7 per cent over the past year, but just 15.8 per cent over five years. Over the past decade though, the return is a much healthier 90 per cent. Train, who has run Finsbury for almost 25 years, says he has tackled the past tough years making sure he 'stuck to a clear set of principles'. He says: 'It is no fun underperforming. And it really behoves you in those circumstances to behave in a disciplined way. I hope that we have done that.' Train believes his Warren Buffett-influenced investing style of constructing a concentrated portfolio of high-quality shares will shine through. Finsbury Growth & Income shares are trading at 7 per cent below net asset value, offering the chance to buy in at a discount. Ongoing annual charges are 0.61 per cent and its unique stock market identification code is 0781606.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Nick Train interview: These world-class UK companies are primed for profit and going cheap
Finsbury Growth & Income's Nick Train is one of Britain's best known fund managers and he joins Simon Lambert on this episode of the Investing Show for an in-depth interview. Train's Warren Buffett-style investing approach has won him a legion of fans among the UK's personal investors, with years of beating the market under his belt. But markets have shunned the kind of large UK household name stocks that Train favours in recent years, shareholders have had their patience tested. In this Investing Show interview, Train explains how he has handled that period of underperformance and why he thinks it is important to stick to the trust's clearly laid out approach rather than shake things up. He says: 'It is no fun underperforming. And it really behoves you in those circumstances to behave in a disciplined way. I hope that we have done that.' Train is optimistic for the future though, saying that he believes there is a cohort of more growth orientated companies coming through in the UK that are world class and can profit from rapid advances in technology. While investors have trained their focus on chasing up US tech giants' share prices amid the artificial intelligence boom, Train says they are some FTSE-listed firms that also offer a huge opportunity to profit from the application of AI. He also discussed the prospects for two household name holdings, Guinness-maker Diageo and lucury brand Burberry that have suffered in recent years. He reveals the new stock that he has bought that fits this profile and the other companies among Finsbury Growth & Income's concentrated portfolio that he believes are both great value and primed to perform for investors.
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stocks and Shares ISA in the red? Here's how to try and get back on track
Using a Stocks and Shares ISA to invest is a fantastic way to build wealth. But in 2025, it seems not everyone's been making a lot of money. While both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 have been on the rise, many equity funds have seemingly struggled to keep up. And that includes funds managed by industry favourites such as Terry Smith and Nick Train. It seems that relying on actively-managed funds in 2025 has led to many ISAs tumbling into the red. And subsequently, an estimated £7.1bn of investor capital has been pulled out of these funds in just the first two months of the year, according to AJ Bell. Suffering investment losses from time to time is a normal part of the wealth-building journey. After all, stocks don't just go up forever, and even the best-looking businesses can fail to deliver on expectations. Yet the key is to learn from past mistakes and steer a portfolio back on track. If actively managed funds aren't meeting expectations and the fund managers are failing to effectively communicate why, then exploring new options could be in order. The most obvious and growing popular wealth-building alternative is to opt for passive index funds. These carry significantly lower fees and guarantee that investors will earn the same return as the market. In the short term, the performance of indices like the FTSE 100 is near-impossible to predict. But over the long run, investors have reaped average gains of between 6% to 10%. Assuming this continues to be the case in the future, investors can expect to eventually recoup their ISA losses and start building wealth again over the long term. However, there's an alternative approach available. Instead of relying on an expensive industry professional seemingly getting it wrong, why not start picking stocks directly? But being a successful stock picker is far easier said than done. There are a lot of critical factors to consider in an ever-changing market environment. But by identifying the best businesses, individual retail investors have gone on to earn spectacular returns. Take a look at Fresnillo (LSE:FRES) as a prime example. The Mexican gold and silver mining enterprise has seen its share price surge by almost 120% since the start of the year, driven by a combination of operational milestones and higher commodity prices. Demand for the group's products has surged as gold becomes increasingly popular as geopolitical tensions rise. And with production along with ore grades steadily increasing, investor sentiment has drastically improved compared to the last four years. Finding beaten-down opportunities with comeback potential is certainly a stock-picking strategy that can yield terrific results like this one. But it's also crucial to recognise it's never without risk. The regulatory environment for Mexico-based miners is growing increasingly strict, which could limit further mine development and long-term production volumes. That could prove especially problematic as the group's existing mines steadily move towards the end of their productive lives. A failure to find and develop new projects to offset the loss of production would directly compromise earnings and, with it, the share price. Nevertheless, Fresnillo goes to show that when a stock-picking strategy's successful, it can yield tremendous returns for a Stocks and Shares ISA, even when there are risks to carefully consider. The post Stocks and Shares ISA in the red? Here's how to try and get back on track appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Zaven Boyrazian has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Fresnillo Plc. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Lindsell Train founders take £23m in dividends despite profit slide
The two founders of the Lindsell Train fund management business took home about £23 million in dividends last year despite a slide in profits as investors pulled money from the group. Michael Lindsell and Nick Train, the more high profile of the pair, are among Britain's best-known stockpickers but their eponymous company has come under pressure in recent years because of the flagging performance of some of its funds. The latest accounts for the business filed at Companies House showed its fee revenues fell by almost a fifth to £69.1 million in the 12 months to the end of January after client withdrawals knocked its assets under management to £12.8 billion, from £15.9 billion a year earlier. It said that these fund outflows were 'predominantly
