Michael Bow, The Telegraph, 28 May 2024:
Star fund manager Nick Train has apologised for poor performance at his flagship investment trust as he warned of “malaise” gripping the UK stock market.
Mr Train, who manages the £1.7bn Finsbury Growth & Income Trust, admitted to making an “obvious failing” three years ago by not investing enough in British technology companies. In the US, technology companies such as Tesla and Nvidia have been the big winners of the bull market.
The Finsbury Trust has persistently failed to keep pace with the FTSE All Share Index, with Mr Train forced to apologise for “yet another” six-month period where performance was poor.
In an update to investors, he bemoaned the parlous state of the UK stock market, which is trading at a significant discount to other global stock markets around the world..
James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said Mr Train’s funds began to suffer in the aftermath of Covid when his investments failed to benefit from a surge in public markets.
He said: “Nick’s approach is focused on quality and growth. When the pandemic hit, these were desirable qualities. However, as markets started to recover, Finsbury was left behind – its quality stocks hadn’t suffered much so there was no recovery to get excited about.”
Mr Carthew added that a sharp sell-off in AI stocks or takeover bids for some of Mr Train’s investment could help revive performance at the Trust.
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