The £3bn Smithson investment company, run by Fundsmith, has underperformed its index for the first reported period since its inception in October 2018, as the manager adds two new investments and ditches one during the first half of 2021.
From January to the end of June, the net asset value (NAV) per share of the company increased by 5.9% and the share price increased by 4.1%. Over the same period, the MSCI World SMID Index, the company's benchmark, increased by 12.4%. The manager, Simon Barnard, said this underperformance was down to a shift towards value and inflation expectations which "in theory, reduces the value of higher rated growth companies". Barnard added two US companies to the portfolio during the period: Rollins and Wingstop. Rollins is a US-based pest control business, which benefits from organic growth ...
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