Interactive Investor

ii Super 60 investments: The European Smaller Companies Trust PLC

Asset GroupAsset Sub-GroupInvestment Category
EquitiesEuropean equitiesSmaller company

The trust is managed Ollie Beckett a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson with over 17 years with the firm and 27 years of investment experience. Beckett is supported by portfolio manager Rory Stokes and associate portfolio manager Julia Scheuffler and can also leverage off the group’s wider pan-European equity team led by John Bennett.

As the name suggests the trust invests in smaller companies as the managers believe that over the longer term smaller companies will consistently outperform larger companies, as they are less efficiently priced. A key area of focus is to identify stocks that are mispriced relative to their cash generative ability. Meeting companies is an essential part of the investment process, and the managers conduct over 600 meetings each year. Areas of focus in their stock selection process include, a thorough understanding of the companies operating environment, as well as barriers to entry, points of differentiation in relation to cost, product and/or customers, quality of management and capital allocation. The portfolio is constructed from the bottom-up with risk mitigated by limiting the individual stock bets to a maximum position size of 5% as well as ensuring diversification at the sector level.

Fund gearing has historically been in the range of 6 – 17%.

The fund has delivered strong performance over the long term, driven by stronger performance during periods of market strength.

Opinion
The fund benefits from an experienced manager who is ably supported both directly and indirectly by the group’s pan-European equity team.

The fund also benefits from an established investment process and while the focus on smaller companies means that fund returns over shorter-term timeframes may be volatile, investors should be rewarded over the long term with strong performance.

January 2023

Risk warnings

Past performance of the underlying constituents is not a guarantee of future performance. The value of investments, and any income from them, can fall as well as rise so you could get back less than you invest. 

Annual performance can be found on the factsheet of each fund, trust or ETF. Simply click on the asset’s name and then the performance tab. 

The information we provide in the ii Super 60 investments list is an opinion provided by ii or one of its partners on whether to buy a specific investment. Please note that none of the opinions we provide are a “personal recommendation”, which means that we have not assessed your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. Therefore you should ensure that any investment decisions you make are suitable for your personal circumstances.

If you are unsure about the suitability of a particular investment or think that you need a personal recommendation, you should speak to a suitably qualified financial advisor. 

Any changes to the ii Super 60 investments list and the rationale behind those decisions will be communicated through the Quarterly Investment Outlook.

Details of all recommendations issued by ii during the previous 12 month period can be found here.

ii adheres to a strict code of conduct. Members of ii staff may hold shares in companies mentioned in the ii Super 60 investments list, which could create a conflict of interest. Any member of staff intending to complete some research about any financial instrument in which they have an interest are required to disclose such interest to ii. We will at all times consider whether such interest impairs the objectivity of the recommendation.

In addition, staff involved in the production of this ii Super 60 list are subject to a personal account dealing restriction. This prevents them from placing a transaction in the specified instrument(s) for five working days before and after an investment is included or amended and made public within the list. This is to avoid personal interests conflicting with the interests of the recipients of this ii Super 60 investments list.