Weekly Investment Trusts Podcast - with Tom Poynton and Dale Nicholls (16 Sep 2023)

In this week's edition of the Weekly Investment Trust Podcast, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook, talks to Tom Poynton, executive director at Baron & Grant, and Dale Nicholls, manager at Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS). We are grateful for the support of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which enables us to keep the podcast free.

Section Timestamps:
00:44 - Review of the week
02:45 - This week's guests
03:25 - Corporate news and announcements
07:57 - Money Makers Circle
08:31 - Summary of results
13:28 - Q&A with Tom Poynton
13:38 - Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG)
19:46 - Private equity announcements
25:15 - Early stage venture capital trusts
30:00 - The renewables sector
33:39 - Outlook for discounts
36:04 - Cricket!
40:35 - Q&A with Dale Nicholls
40:50 - Disappointment for Chinese investment returns
42:03 - The property crisis
43:59 - Lessons from regulatory interventions
45:12 - The impact of geopolitical tensions on investment flows
46:47 - The attractiveness of valuations
49:36 - AI and the portfolio direction
51:20 - China's position within a portfolio
52:37 - Gearing level and policy
53:56 - Highlights and disappointments as trust manager
54:58 - The Long-term China story
56:13 - Close

Trusts mentioned this week (with tickers): Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG), Round Hill Music Royalty Fund (RHM), Ediston Property Investment Company (EPIC), TR Property Investment Trust (TRY), ThomasLloyd Energy Impact (TLEI), CQS New City High Yield (NCYF), BH Macro (BHMG), Vietnam Enterprise Investments (VEIL), North Atlantic Smaller Companies (NAS), Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT), Schroder Asian Total Return (ATR), Foresight Solar Fund (FSFL), Oakley Capital Investments (OCI), Literacy Capital (BOOK), Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT), RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW), Henderson High Income (HHI), AVI Japan Opportunity Trust (AJOT), Menhaden Resource Efficiency (MHN), Castelnau Group (CGL), Golden Prospect Precious Metals (GPM), Middlefield Canadian Income (MCT), VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities (GSEO), Ecofin US Renewables (RNEW), Dunedin Enterprise (DNE), Pantheon International (PIN), Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF), NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF).

If you enjoy the weekly podcast, you may also find value in joining The Money Makers circle. This is a membership scheme that offers listeners to the podcast an opportunity, in return for a modest monthly or annual subscription, to receive additional premium content, including interviews, performance data, market/portfolio reviews and regular extracts from the editor's notebook.

This week, as well as the regular features, the Circle features an in-depth profile of the Alliance Trust (ATST), as well as a list of fifteen large and liquid investment trusts which Jonathan believes look attractive on discount grounds if we are nearing the end of the interest rate cycle.

For more information about the Money Makers circle, please visit money-makers.co/membership-join. Membership helps to cover the cost of producing the weekly investment trust podcast, which will continue to be free. We are very grateful for your continued support and the enthusiastic response to more than 170 podcasts since launch.

You can find more information, including relevant disclosures, at www.money-makers.co. Please note that this podcast is provided for educational purposes only and nothing you hear should be considered as investment advice. Our podcasts are also available on the Association of Investment Companies website, www.theaic.co.uk.

Produced by Ben Gamblin.