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Richard Scrope
Fund Manager
The sad news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, left a nation, and a large part of the world, in a state of reflection and awe over a lifetime spent in the service of others. As a British citizen (albeit currently living abroad) and an ex-serviceman, it is hard to express my gratitude and the honour it has been to be her subject during the course of my life.
She reigned over a nation of change, during which oversaw 15 Prime Ministers and world events unfold, yet she remained a force for calm and reconciliation, bringing nations and people together and providing advice in a way that others could not. Perhaps this is a good lesson for investors of today; the power of calm reflection and consideration and stepping back from the market noise can often prevent bad and irrational decisions being made.
Of the Financial Times 30 companies that existed at her accession in 1952, only two remain un-merged, acquired, or nationalised, and the concept of the FTSE100 or FTSE All-Share did not even become concepts for years after her Silver Jubilee. Longevity and consistency are rare qualities in today’s markets and with UK equities at multi-year low valuations and Sterling at the lowest level against the Dollar since the US dropped the gold standard, we expect many more UK companies will become targets for overseas investors over King Charles’ reign.
Quality and consistency are good starting points for anyone looking to invest in equity markets with more than a short-term time horizon. For companies to survive they must also have the ability to adapt to underlying changes in the markets and invest when others look to retreat. There are many measures that can be used to assess a company’s prowess in this respect of which Returns on Invest Capital and Free Cash Flow to the Firm are the two which we monitor most closely given that companies need predictable and high levels of Free Cash Flow to be able to invest and capture opportunities as they arise regardless of the macro environment. By coincidence, the average date of the founding of the underlying companies in the VT Tyndall Global Select Fund is 1926, the same year that the then Princess Elizabeth was born - we hope that they too can navigate any troubles that lie ahead with as calm and sensible course as that the late Queen set during her reign.
WARNING: All information about the VT Tyndall Global Select Fund(‘The Fund’) is available in The Fund’s prospectus and Key Investor Information Document which are available free of charge (in English) from Valu-Trac Investment Management Limited (www.valu-trac.com). Any investment in the fund should be made on the basis of the terms governing the fund and not