Fund of the week: An underdog that has barked
By
Heather D'Alton
Nov 08, 2005
How has the fund of a tiny northern company, run by a self-confessed dour Yorkshireman, consistently outperformed most of the competition?
According to Mark Hall, manager of the Rensburg UK Select Growth trust, it’s all very simple: find one really good idea each month (a stock at a big discount), back it with conviction, and then sell it when it reaches its true value, says Charles Batchelor in the FT.
The result of this approach has been impressive: the Rensburg UK Select Growth trust returned 90.2% in the past three years, well above the UK All Companies sector average of 58.2%. Not that Hall compares his fund with benchmarks: it’s an absolute return fund, so Hall aims to make positive returns irrespective of the movement of the overall market. He has recently invested a large portion of the fund in defensive stocks, including Severn Trent and Imperial Tobacco.
Why the shift? According to Hall, the downside risks for the UK economy are increasing, although he is still looking at some growth stocks, such as recruitment company Imprint Search & Selection.
Hall usually holds a stock for three years, and says that most returns come from “long-term investment decisions”. But, unlike big investment firms, such as Artemis and Fidelity, he can’t ignore the health of his short-term performance either. “Investors will forgive Anthony Bolton 18-months bad performance,” he says, but not a small northern company like Rensburg.
Contact: 0800-731 6028, www.rensburgfunds.co.uk
Rensburg UK Select Growth trust top ten holdings:
Name of holding - % of assets
BP - 4%
GlaxoSmithKline - 3.7%
Vodafone - 3.2%
HSBC Hldgs - 3.2%
Royal Dutch Shell - 3%
AstraZeneca - 2.3%
Royal Bank of Scotland - 2%
Torex Retail - 1.6%
BHP Billiton - 1.6%
Grainger Trust - 1.4%
Published in Investments
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by
Heather D'Alton
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