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Emma Wall: Hello, and welcome to Morningstar. I'm Emma Wall and I'm joined today by John Husselbee, Head of Multi-Asset for Liontrust to give his three fund picks.
Hi, John.
John Husselbee: Hello there.
Wall: So, what's the first fund you'd like to highlight today?
Husselbee: Well, I think Lindsell Train, the UK Equity Fund.
Wall: And why do you love that?
Husselbee: Well, it's run by Nick Train. I think in the current environment we're in, we don't like U.K. equities. We're underweight in U.K. equities. But if you're going to look for an investment there, then why not look for a manager with experience and consistency in terms of delivering performance. Nick Train is doing that with U.K. equities, well-known names.
If you look down the list, there is not going to be a name there you don't recognize or anyone indeed watching this video is not going to recognize. But I would say where Nick Train really has his skill is when to buy and price is important. At the end of the day, you want to buy low, sell high and Nick Train runs a concentrated stock portfolio and that's his ability.
Wall: What's the second fund you'd like to highlight?
Husselbee: Second fund, a favorite area of ours is Europe and within Europe we like Jupiter European. Jupiter European once again run by Alex Darwall. There is going to be a theme here. The theme is going to be managers who have been running money for a long time. Darwall has been doing that. Working at Jupiter you have the autonomy to be a stock picker there. It's a growth mandate and it's performed very well and should continue to do so long term.
Wall: And you like Europe, of course, because they have a monetary policy which is still cutting interest rates and flooding the region with cash, the opposite stance from the U.K. and the U.S.
Husselbee: Most definitely. I mean, long term equity markets do follow the pattern of growth; shorter-term, perhaps that correlation breaks down. But certainly, with the way that Europe has been cutting policy, but in particularly weakening their currency, that's been very good news for the exporters and that's been very much exploited by what Darwall is doing within that Jupiter European Fund.
Wall: What's the third and final fund?
Husselbee: The third fund, and once again, in line with that policy of monetary easing is Japan and perhaps a name which is a little bit off the radar, but the Man GLG Japan Core Alpha Fund run by Steve Harker and the team. A value approach, once again, a manager with many, many years' experience in exploiting Japan. It's his passion. And at the end of the day, you want a manager who really understands that market and can exploit it.
Wall: And a value approach, of course, is good at this point because the Japan Stock Market has gone from sort of 8,000 to 20,000 which suggests the low-hanging fruit has been picked, but with a value approach there is still plenty to gain?
Husselbee: Most definitely. I mean, the one thing you get with Harker and when we meet him on a regular basis, you get to ask him about the universe, the universe of ideas he has. He still has plenty of ideas in terms of looking at that marketplace and that gives us confidence for the future.
Wall: John, thank you very much. This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.
