Each week, a professional investor tells MoneyWeek where he’d put his money now. This week: Jeremy Thomas, co-manager, Brunner Investment Trust.
The Brunner Investment Trust was established in 1927 and, like many investment trusts with similar longevity, Brunner’s name reflects its history rather than its investment strategy. For the first 50 years of its existence, the trust invested only in domestic stocks – although this changed in 1980, when the trust first invested overseas. Since then, it’s remained true to its roots, consistently aiming to take a long-term view on its investments.
Brunner’s current portfolio is now weighted slightly in favour of stocks listed outside the UK, with a preference for strong businesses with global reach, pricing power and long-term growth potential.
In today’s low-yield world, the search for decent income has become a challenge for private investors. Fortunately, more global companies are emphasising returns to shareholders via a cash dividend and the freedom to invest internationally is advantageous. A good example is Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP), which has been a long-standing investment in Brunner and has an attractive 3.5% yield.
Microchip is a market leader in developing and manufacturing specialised microcontrollers and analog semiconductors, which are used in a wide variety of products. Unlike the broad semiconductor industry, Microchip’s product cycles are long with stable pricing, and as a result margins are attractive. This, combined with the relatively low capital investment needs, makes the business highly cash-generative and has supported over a decade of consistent dividend payments.
The trust’s UK-listed investments also tend to derive a significant proportion of their cash flow from international markets, improving the diversification of income. UBM (LSE: UBM), the largest listed global events and exhibitions-led media business, is a good example: the UK accounts for only 11% of the company’s revenue, with America and China by far its largest markets.
The exhibitions industry offers good long-term growth dynamics, because customers view the leading trade fairs in their respective industries as the primary means of interacting face to face with customers and suppliers in a digital world. The 4.4% dividend yield is just one indicator that UBM is undervalued by the market.
The UK is one of the higher-yielding markets worldwide and the high corporate governance standards are reassuring. Higher-yielding companies do not have to deliver lower growth. SThree (LSE: STHR), the science, technology, engineering and maths-orientated recruitment company, is a good example.
Approximately two-thirds of SThree’s sales are now derived outside of the UK as the firm seeks to take its expertise into new markets. A 3.7% yield is supportive, but it is the scope for the company to grow revenues by 10% or more in the coming years that is most compelling.
The Brunner Investment Trust has grown its dividend every year since 1972. The dividend is supported by investments in attractive companies, such as Microchip, UBM and SThree. We believe that this, along with a healthy revenue reserve, should allow this record to continue long into the future.