Terry Smith defends 'tech' holdings and claims underperformance was 'inevitable'

Annual shareholder letter

Kathleen Gallagher
clock • 3 min read

Terry Smith, manager of the £22.9bn Fundmsith Equity fund, has defended his technology holdings, while noting that his fund’s recent underperfomance was “inevitable”, in his annual shareholder letter.

In the letter, published today (10 January), Smith said the fund had fallen by 13.8% in 2022, compared to a 7.8% drop in the MSCI World index in sterling with dividends reinvested. "Whilst a period of underperformance against the index is never welcome it is nonetheless inevitable," the fund manager said in the letter. "We have consistently warned that no investment strategy will outperform in every reporting period and every type of market condition." Smith went on to detail market developments since the 1990s, which he described as a long period of easy money. He then defended...

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

Montanaro AM fund adopts 'Sustainability Impact' SDR label

Montanaro AM fund adopts 'Sustainability Impact' SDR label

SDR could be 'global benchmark'

Patrick Brusnahan
clock 12 June 2025 • 1 min read
Square Mile suspends ratings for pair of Baillie Gifford funds

Square Mile suspends ratings for pair of Baillie Gifford funds

BNY Mellon suffers same fate

Patrick Brusnahan
clock 11 June 2025 • 1 min read
Equity inflows down £1bn in May as Europe enjoys 'best month' since June 2024

Equity inflows down £1bn in May as Europe enjoys 'best month' since June 2024

IA and Calastone figures

Sorin Dojan
clock 05 June 2025 • 2 min read
Trustpilot