10/12/07

Fund Manager Meetings

We have had a busy week or so, catching up with Allianz, Legal & General, Gartmore, Standard Life Investments and Baillie Gifford.

As you would expect with such a mix of fund management firms we have seen the good, the bad and the indifferent. We have heard differing views on the same markets but overall the sessions have been an excellent use of our time. It is important that you actually come away from these sessions knowing more than when you went it.

The Gartmore and Baillie Gifford sessions on China were by far the most impressive. There is so much going on in that region and so many opposing views, it was great to finally hear some clear and concise thoughts on an area that we are excited about long term. Our session with the Pacific Fund Manager at Baillie Gifford, Ben Lloyd, was excellent. Ben has only recently got back from 2 weeks in China and therefore able to give us first hand accounts of what was going on there and what the opportunities look like. Both Gartmore and Baillie share the view for positive long term growth in China which was reassuring to hear.

Our contact at Allianz gave us an update on their BRIC fund (featured in this month's Investment View) and this was positive, although they were slightly more cautious on the outlook for China as they have reduced their exposure slightly. T hey did however see massive growth continuing in the other emerging countries such as Russia and Brazil, although the political situation in India hinders any major development activity from taking place.

Focusing on the UK equity markets and Corporate Bonds we met up with Standard Life and Legal & General and given the current volatile market conditions their views were not as positive. In particular Standard's outlook for Bonds was not especially positive but at least they were honest enough to admit it. This view was in direct contrast to the much rosier outlook presented by Baillie Gifford for Bonds - our current preferred Fund Manager is this sector. It is all about opinions in the end and everyone has one - we need to find and listen to the right ones!!

Whilst at Standard we also met with Harry Nimmo their UK Smaller Companies Manager. He clearly knows his companies and has a wealth of experience behind him. Whilst accepting that UK Large Caps is the place to be right now he also argued a case for a UK Smaller Companies fund in any balanced portfolio, which just happens to be his fund - and given his ability to manage his fund in trickier market conditions, we will continue to back him.