The directors of the Edinburgh Investment Trust (EDIN) announced that James de Uphaugh, the company’s portfolio manager, will retire in February 2024 after 36 years in the industry. James will continue to manage the company’s portfolio until February and will then be replaced as portfolio manager by his colleague Imran Sattar. As part of the succession, Imran has been appointed the company’s deputy portfolio manager, replacing Chris Field who is due to retire in November. The directors thank James and Chris for their careful stewardship of the company’s portfolio and strong investment results since the appointment of the investment management team in March 2020.
Imran has been a member of the Liontrust Global Fundamental Team since 2018, managing UK equity client portfolios jointly alongside James and Chris. Imran is also lead manager for another UK equity strategy in his own right. Before joining the GFT, he was a managing director and fund manager at BlackRock, where he managed UK equity funds with combined assets of over £2 billion. Imran joined Mercury Asset Management (now BlackRock) in 1997. He will become head of the GFT in February 2024.
Once in place as the company’s portfolio manager, Imran will continue to apply the same flexible investment process that has been the hallmark of the portfolio since March 2020. Other than the change of portfolio manager, there will be no change to the company’s two investment objectives, strategy or the portfolio’s key features – namely a high conviction portfolio of 40 to 50 differentiated holdings, primarily invested in UK equities, underpinned by fundamental company research. Imran, like James, will also be supported by a collegiate team of nine fund managers and analysts:
The company’s chair, Elisabeth Stheeman, said:
“James oversaw the successful transition of the company’s management to the Global Fundamental Team and has delivered impressive investment performance in volatile market conditions. Over this period, from 31 March 2020 to 28 September 2023, the Net Asset Value per share (cum income, debt at fair value) has risen by 73.2% and the share price total return has risen by 80.2%, against 49.2% for the comparator index (the FTSE All Share).
“Imran has a strong investment pedigree, deep knowledge of the UK equity market, has long experience of managing large investment portfolios, and has worked alongside James and Chris for many years. He and his colleagues are well placed to build on the strong foundations put in place since 2020 and we look forward to working with him.”
EDIN : End of an era for Edinburgh Investment Trust
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