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Rathbone Global Opportunities
Rathbone Global Opportunities is a global growth fund looking to buy innovative companies that have flown under the radar of the main market. It aims to identify global themes and invest in them early. It has been managed by James Thomson since 2003 and has one of the strongest track records in its sector.
Our opinion
This fund is a truly active, unconstrained growth fund run by an experienced manager. James' high conviction contrarian strategy has proven itself over many years. He is not afraid to admit his weaknesses or past errors, a refreshingly honest approach, which allows him to concentrate on his core strengths - including stock picking.
Company description
Established in 1999, Rathbone Unit Trust Management is the asset management subsidiary of Rathbone Brothers Plc. It won the Elite Equities Provider Rating award in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Rathbone Brothers Plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and employs more than 250 investment professionals in several offices around the UK.
Fund manager
James Thomson joined Rathbone in 2000. In 2003, he became co-manager of the Rathbone Global Opportunities fund and in July 2005 he became the sole manager. James grew up in Bermuda, before attending Cornell University in the USA. He joined Rathbones straight after graduating and was later appointed as a Board Director of Rathbone Unit Trust Managers in 2006.
High-quality cooking - our ‘secret sauce’ investment philosophy - clearly identifies and focuses on specific ‘ingredients’ or qualities that we like to see in companies. We add value through high-impact stockpicking, being able to assess and take calculated risks to uncover hidden, potentially lucrative, investment gems.
James ThomsonFund manager
Investment process
James has a contrarian approach, investing in undiscovered, out-of-favour growth companies and holding many for the long term. He likes simple, scalable businesses with entrepreneurial and flexible management teams. The fund is unconstrained, meaning James is free to pick the stocks he likes, rather than what the benchmark contains. He takes his stocks through a three-step process, analysing their fundamentals, meeting their management teams and then assessing the valuation. From here, stocks will be either rejected, added to a watchlist whilst awaiting an improvement in the business or valuation, or purchased at an initial 2% position.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
Rathbone has a strong presence in sustainable investing, though this is not one of its explicit ESG funds. However, that is not to say James ignores ESG when building his portfolio. He integrates the evaluation of ESG factors into the investment process as a way of fully assessing the business, financial and valuation risk of an investment. While all factors are considered, this does not lead to any rules around exclusions. If James identifies high ESG risks associated with a stock, he can still invest in it, should he feel the risk is already reflected in the share price. The scores themselves are determined through inputs from third party sources.
More than one source will be used to ensure they cover off all angles and potential issues. If any controversies or issues are flagged by these inputs, James will use these as a point of reference to engage with a company. James will obviously prefer firms with a higher ESG scores over a lower one, as this will indicate a firm is at lower risk from ESG issues, though the direction of travel will also be important, with improving scores looked upon favourably, and those deteriorating a point of concern and for further analysis.
Risk
The fund altered its approach after the global financial crisis, adding a core defensive bucket of reliable growth stocks. These core holdings have helped reduce the fund's volatility. James has a very strict sell discipline and will cut stocks quickly when structural issues arise. Rathbone Global Opportunities is quite concentrated though at 40-60 names, meaning one stock can create a notable effect on the performance of the fund.
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