Ruffer Investment Company Limited Monthly Investment Report - September 2019 (0460P)
October 07 2019 - 11:10AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMRICA
RNS Number : 0460P
Ruffer Investment Company Limited
07 October 2019
RUFFER INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED
(a closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with
registration number 41996)
LEI 21380068AHZKY7MKNO47
Attached is a link to the Investment Monthly Report for
September 2019.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/0460P_1-2019-10-7.pdf
During September, the net asset value of the Company fell by
0.6% (after allowing for the dividend of 0.9p declared on 19
September). This compares with a rise of 3% in the FTSE All-Share
index.
Following the release of our report and accounts we are able to
update the audited ongoing charges figure. We are pleased to note
that thanks to the efforts of the board the expense ratio has
dropped from 1.18% to 1.13.
September's moves unwound much of the damage done in August's
market move. The Company finished the first nine months of 2019
with an appreciation of 7% - a reasonable outcome when viewed in
the context of a portfolio which is positioned defensively and has
carried protective assets through a benign period for markets.
Everywhere politicians, policymakers and actors on the global
stage may be pushing things too far. Peggy Noonan in the Wall
Street Journal suggested that 'everyone now making decisions grew
up in the past sixty years, a time of historic wealth creation,
human growth and relative stability... they think this is normal...
in this cynical age they've grown too trusting of good
fortune.'
This blind faith that, no matter what the risks, everything will
work out alright is prevalent in many places. It is in Trump's
insouciance, in parts of the Brexit debate and in the Hong Kong and
gilet jaune protests where, after initial success, the protesters
have been emboldened to push for more.
In the investment sphere examples abound of things being taken
too far. We have opined before about the dangers lurking in the
venture capital unicorns. Some of these businesses will change the
world, most will not. New era thinking cannot obfuscate the numbers
indefinitely. WeWork's IPO flop was an example of corporate
governance, jargon and a valuation which went beyond the pale. The
primary backer of WeWork is Softbank and their own ambitious plans
for yet another $100bn Vision Fund are also possibly taking things
a little too far.
The future is an uncertain place and yet there is a central
thread to these diffuse stories; none of these protagonists has
allowed any room for doubt. Each is playing a winner-takes-all
strategy.
Due to the binary nature of many of these issues: Brexit, deal
or no deal, China, trading partner or strategic adversary, US
elections, free marketeer or an anti-capitalist; it is plausible
that markets are struggling to discount or weigh events accurately.
This makes the current situation brittle with markets likely to
respond sharply up or down when events break one way or the other.
We only need to look at the Argentine stockmarket's one day fall of
37% for an extreme example of this path dependency. One day
everything was fine, the next it wasn't.
By nature we have an ardour for ambiguity. Our portfolio
construction hinges around accepting that we do not possess a
crystal ball and we deliberately build a collection of offsetting
assets which will be robust, and hopefully thrive, under the full
range of potential outcomes.
On 31 October 2019, Steve Russell is stepping down as one of the
fund managers for the Ruffer Investment Company. Hamish Baillie and
Duncan MacInnes will continue to manage the Company's investment
portfolio. Steve has been a fund manager for the Company since
inception in 2004 and will remain part of the wider investment
process at Ruffer.
Enquiries:
Praxis Fund Services Limited
Shona Darling
DDI: +44(0)1481 755528
Email: ric@praxisifm.com
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END
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