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Premier Miton US Opportunities
Premier Miton US Opportunities is a highly differentiated US equity fund, with a greater emphasis on medium-sized companies than most of its peers. The fund is concentrated with just 35-45 holdings and invests in capital-light businesses with strong reinvestment opportunities capable of compounding over time.
Previously LF Miton US Opportunities Fund
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Fund Managers
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Nick Ford, Co-Manager Nick Ford joined Premier Miton in December 2012. Before this, he was an Investment Director on the US and Global investment team at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. His prior roles include co-managing the Gartmore US Smaller Companies fund, managing US funds for Sun Alliance and Clerical Medical, and working on the small cap team at F&C Asset Management.
Hugh Grieves, Co-Manager Hugh Grieves joined Premier Miton in January 2013. Before that, he managed the Herald Worldwide Fund at Herald Investment. From 2000 to 2008, Hugh co-managed technology funds at Société Générale Asset Management Ltd and managed them solo from 2008 to 2009. He also worked in the US smaller companies team at Gartmore. Hugh is a CFA Charterholder.
Alex Knox, Co-Manager Alex Knox joined Premier Miton in August 2024 from Federated Hermes where she worked for 15 years as a manager of the US SMID Equity fund from August 2009 to July 2024. Prior to this she was a fund manager in the Aviva Investors UK Small and Mid-Cap team (2000-2005). Alex is a Chartered Accountant. She graduated from Durham University with a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics.
Nick Ford, Co-Manager Nick Ford joined Premier Miton in December 2012. Before this, he was an Investment Director on the US and Global investment team at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. His prior roles include co-managing the Gartmore US Smaller Companies fund, managing US funds for Sun Alliance and Clerical Medical, and working on the small cap team at F&C Asset Management.
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Hugh Grieves, Co-Manager Hugh Grieves joined Premier Miton in January 2013. Before that, he managed the Herald Worldwide Fund at Herald Investment. From 2000 to 2008, Hugh co-managed technology funds at Société Générale Asset Management Ltd and managed them solo from 2008 to 2009. He also worked in the US smaller companies team at Gartmore. Hugh is a CFA Charterholder.
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Alex Knox, Co-Manager Alex Knox joined Premier Miton in August 2024 from Federated Hermes where she worked for 15 years as a manager of the US SMID Equity fund from August 2009 to July 2024. Prior to this she was a fund manager in the Aviva Investors UK Small and Mid-Cap team (2000-2005). Alex is a Chartered Accountant. She graduated from Durham University with a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics.
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Talking Factsheet
Quote from the Fund Manager
Investing is like dieting, everyone knows what you should do. The difficult part is having the discipline to stick to it.
Hugh Grieves
Co-Manager
Investment process
The managers believe that only a very small number of companies will deliver consistent performance over time. As a result, Premier Miton US Opportunities fund focuses on a small number of higher quality 'sustainable franchises'. The team makes regular trips to the US to attend investment conferences, undertake on-site visits and meet management teams. They meet around 200 companies a year.
There are three key characteristics they look for in any potential investment: consistent and sustainable cash flow, capital light (generating a high proportion of cash relative to the tangible assets in the business) and the ability to reinvest cash profitability, so returns compound over time.
Every potential idea is subjected to a Porter's Five Forces analysis; threat of new entrants, power of suppliers, power of customers, risk of substitutes and intensity of competition. The final portfolio consists of 35 to 45 stocks.
Risk
No single stock can have a weight greater than 5% of the portfolio in order to reduce stock-specific risk. Premier Miton US Opportunities fund typically holds a much greater proportion in medium-sized companies and smaller large companies than its peers. The fund has also historically been more domestically-orientated than its benchmark index. Despite these differences, the fund's volatility has historically been roughly the same as its benchmark.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
Premier Miton as a firm believes managers should have the autonomy to make their own investment decisions based on the inputs available to them, and therefore has no house view on ESG limitations. It does however believe that ESG considerations should be fully integrated into the investment process and considered alongside financial factors. This allows the managers to then make a call as to what level of risk they are prepared to take. Here, ESG analysis is performed alongside financial factors by the fund managers as part of their stock selection process for the fund. The portfolio has a quality bias and screens out capital intensive industries which creates a natural bias away from traditional ESG laggards. There is also a focus on corporate engagement and voting to try and improve portfolio companies. This results in the fund often having an above average ESG profile, though for investment-led strategy reasons, rather than on a moral basis.
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