Terry Smith sells 'most cyclical stock'

Buys Jack Daniel's distiller

David Brenchley
clock • 1 min read

The £18.8bn Fundsmith Equity fund sold conglomerate 3M during September, replacing it with spirits and wine distiller Brown-Forman, manager Terry Smith has revealed.

Smith described 3M as "the most cyclical stock we held", noting he had "become concerned about recent capital allocation decisions" the company had made. He referenced the recent $116m sale of 3M's ballistic protection business to Avon Rubber as an example. Smith noted the market's reaction to that news "certainly suggests that Avon had the better of that deal". Shares in London-listed Avon jumped 18.7% on the 7 August news. Fundsmith hires IFA sales director 3M's stock price has fallen 27.7% since late April, when the firm slashed its full-year outlook and said it would cut 2,000 ...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Funds

Assets in the fund became "too few to keep the fund alive" following investors pulling their capital, however, the fund is still offered in separate accounts and LPs.

William Blair IM pulls UCITS China offering following 'key investor' withdrawals

'Assets too few to keep the fund alive'

clock 05 January 2024 • 1 min read
Of the firm's 124 equity categories, 19 returned a net negative performance in 2023, with the bottom ten dominated by Asia exposures.

Asian funds endure poor performance in 2023 as local currency bonds thrive

European fund performance review

Elliot Gulliver-Needham
clock 05 January 2024 • 2 min read
Royal London Short Money Market first took the top spot in October 2023, where it remains, while the £22.7bn Terry Smith fund has since been further overtaken by L&G Global Technology Index and Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity.

Fundsmith Equity slips further down ii most bought list

Falls to fourth place

Elliot Gulliver-Needham
clock 04 January 2024 • 2 min read
Trustpilot