We believe CF Lindsell Train UK Equity benefits from the stewardship of an immensely talented UK equity manager.
Nick Train is an experienced, talented and pragmatic manager who has run this fund since launch. He has three decades of expertise, which cover a number of market cycles. He started his career as an investment manager at GT Management in 1981 and established Lindsell Train in 2000 together with his colleague Michael Lindsell. Train was appointed soon afterwards to run Finsbury Growth and Income, a closed-end fund managed to the same mandate as this fund.
Train's process is thorough and well-proven over a number of market cycles and supports our conviction in the fund. It's an approach that's been applied consistently over the years and results in a concentrated portfolio. Train selects companies from the bottom up and looks for unique and strong franchises that can prosper through a number of business cycles. He sells a stock only if he no longer considers it of sufficient quality, or when its growth in value causes it to become too large a proportion of the portfolio, at which point he will trim it.
This process has led to excellent returns. The fund has comfortably outperformed its Morningstar UK Flex-Cap Equity Category peers since launch. The manager has also amassed a similarly strong track record on its closed-end counterpart, dating back to Dec 2000. Train’s emphasis on quality companies has led to particularly strong performance in weaker markets as evidenced by the fund’s strong outperformance in years such as 2008 and 2011 when the manager was able to protect capital better than most.
One slight hesitation is that, in addition to his responsibilities as a portfolio manager, Train also has duties as a founding partner. However, the firm has thus far stuck to its core competencies and has not tried to gather assets.
All told, we think there is much to like here: an experienced manager, a tried-and-tested process that has delivered excellent returns, and a competitive fee structure. The fund is awarded a Gold rating.