Public Companies

We believe you build wealth by owning companies, not trading them on the stock market.

Focused on ‘co-owning’ companies that are built on solid foundations and generate cash, we target businesses that we understand and that can deliver good returns on capital. We tend to find these companies within technology, healthcare and life sciences equipment and services, industrials and consumer goods.

In our search for underlying predictability and pricing power, we look for factors such as a strong brand, scalability, repeat business and a strong market position.

The strategy has two key objectives, firstly to provide exposure to individually excellent companies for a long period of time to gain long-term economic benefit. Secondly, to hold these in a combination that creates a relatively resilient equity portfolio.

Holdings & performance – Capital

Holdings & performance – Income

The Public Companies strategy is split into two portfolios: Capital and Income.

The portfolios contain significant holdings in well managed companies, held for the long term. These investments typically offer substance, brand, intellectual property and strong market position.

Ben Archer and Alan Murran are Co-Heads of the pool with Ben having responsibility for the Income portfolio and Alan having responsibility for the Capital portfolio.

“The Public Companies portfolio is a risk managed, concentrated collection of high quality companies which we can hold for long periods of time. We always invest with a margin of safety, using general stock market volatility for entry points and to make sure we are being careful with our shareholders’ money.”

Mat Masters

CEO

Meet the Public Companies team

Combined portfolio performance data

Over 1 Yr

Over 3 Yrs

Over 5 Yrs

Annualised Return

13.8%

7.8%

9.2%

as at 30 September 2023

Capital Portfolio

The Capital portfolio comprises investments in well-managed, publicly quoted companies, held for the long term. We select mature, enduring businesses that have a significant presence in their market – and where assets consistently produce strong returns on capital, enabling reinvestment and growth. Our objective is to deliver a 10% annual return, with no income constraint.

Performance Data

Over 1 Yr

Over 3 Yrs

Over 5 Yrs

Annualised Return

17.4%

9.3%

11.9%

as at 30 September 2023

Significant Pool Investments

Name

Value (£m)

Microsoft

72.3

Oracle

69.8

Watsco

54.9

Charter Communications

46.4

Thermo Fisher Scientific

41.6

40.3

40.2

33.7

30.9

28.8

27.6

27.5

Other investments

120.6

Total

634.6

as at 30 September 2023

Geographic distribution

73%

                            North America
                                                
21%

                            UK
                                                
3%

                            Asia
                                                
3%

                            Europe

Sector distribution

29%

                            Information technology
                                                
18%

                            Industrials
                                                
16%

                            Materials
                                                
11%

                            Healthcare
                                                
9%

                            Consumer staples
                                                
7%

                            Financials
                                                
7%

                            Communication services
                                                
3%

                            Consumer discretionary

as at 30 September 2023

Income Portfolio

The Income portfolio is constructed using similar quality criteria as the Capital portfolio: we invest selectively in mature, long-term businesses with resilient business models and the capacity and management culture to pay sustainable dividends. Our objective is to deliver a 7% annual return, with an initial yield of 3.5% based on the cost of investment. However, once invested we will not sell down positions simply based on dividend yield, as this will fall as a result of share price growth. Our underlying strategic aim is to invest in good quality companies whose progress over time will grow the absolute amount of dividend ahead of inflation.

Performance Data

Over 1 Yr

Over 3 Yrs

Over 5 Yrs

Annualised Return

4.3%

4.6%

3.3%

as at 30 September 2023

Significant Pool Investments

Name

Value (£m)

Yield %

Watsco

19.0

5.9

Unilever

18.4

3.5

Reckitt Benckiser

18.0

3.0

National Grid

17.5

4.6

Diageo

16.7

2.4

Philip Morris

15.6

6.0

Fortis

15.4

3.4

SGS

15.1

2.1

Texas Instruments

13.9

4.0

RELX

13.0

2.3

LondonMetric

12.4

6.2

Other investments

55.3

Total

230.3

4.1

as at 30 September 2023

Geographic distribution

61%

                            UK
                                                
33%

                            North America
                                                
6%

                            Europe

Sector distribution

35%

                            Consumer staples
                                                
25%

                            Industrials
                                                
16%

                            Utilities
                                                
10%

                            Real estate
                                                
6%

                            Information technology
                                                
5%

                            Materials
                                                
3%

                            Financials

as at 30 September 2023

Our geographical analysis reflects listing location.