It’s that special time of year when parents shell out huge amounts of money to keep their children fed, clothed and entertained over the summer months while they try to go about their normal activities – like work and sleep. Which fund managers are (wisely) benefiting from your largesse this summer?
Feeding them
Apparently, every child needs a steady supply of Fanta and Wotsits to keep them fuelled and hydrated over the summer (at least that’s what my children tell me). Many of these products will be bought at high street supermarkets, which is good news for Jeremy Smith, manager on the CT UK Equity Income fund, who holds both Marks & Spencer and Tesco in his top ten*.
Cranswick*, a food producer that makes food for UK pubs, restaurants, quick-service restaurants and coffee shops. The largest holding in the abrdn UK Mid-Cap Equity fund run by manager Abby Glennie^^, they may also be indirectly feeding your children this summer. So when you’re buying lunch at an amusement park over the summer, you’ll know who to thank/blame.
Clothing them
One expensive inevitability is that children grow. That means all the summer outfits you carefully selected last year will either be too small or too uncool to pass muster this year. That means a trip to the High Street.
The Artemis Income fund is a long-term investor in Next. Manager Adrian Frost says: “Next has been steadily investing and building capability in systems assets and technology to create a platform for selling not just its own clothes, but other brands too. Next’s ability to create value is evidenced by the growth of its Label platform. As well as selling other brands on its platform, Next has also been acquiring other brands.”
You might not know it, but Next also owns Reiss, Fatface and GAP. The Artemis team points out that Next has around 10 million active customers in the UK, so is already clothing quite a lot of the UK’s children and probably quite a lot of its adults as well. It also has four million customers in the rest of the world and Frost believes this is a real growth opportunity for the group**.
Entertaining them
We could go with Apple or Samsung. After all, every parent needs a few hours’ peace. However, a lot of fund managers have been moving away from Apple – it has become very expensive, may not be a natural winner from AI and has performed horribly since the start of the year (down 14.6%***).
A better option might be Currys, which is a holding in the AXA Framlington UK Mid Cap fund*. It may not seem as sexy as Apple, but it is up 24% since the start of the year***. It has participated in the recovery of the UK market since the start of the year, amid some doubts on the US markets. The FTSE 250 has staged an astonishing performance over the past three months – rising 14% since late April****. Currys has been one of its winning stocks – probably all that computer and gaming equipment you’re buying to see you through the summer.
If you can get your children away from screens for a few minutes, one beneficiary might be Games Workshop. This is a top holding for the Rathbones UK Opportunities fund*. It’s been such a good performer (up 58% over the past 12 months***) that manager Alexandra Jackson has trimmed her holding: “It’s always bittersweet trimming such a successful holding, yet even after cutting it back it remains one of our five largest positions,” she says.
Games Workshop is UK-based manufacturer of miniature war games. It is best known for Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. It won’t mean much to those with a teenage girl, but if you know, you know.
If you are the lucky owner of a child who still likes reading, Bloomsbury is a top holding for the WS Montanaro UK Income fund^. The publisher is known for fiction, non-fiction and academic titles and publishes the ever-popular author Sarah J. Maas, alongside owning the Harry Potter franchise. Montanaro says: “In addition, with a Harry Potter series by HBO to come in 2026-27, and the potential to monetise their academic content through AI deals, we believe the future continues to look bright for Bloomsbury.”
And when you’re done…
Your greatest friend this summer may be Booking.com. Because once you’ve looked after your children for four weeks, you’re going to need a holiday. Booking.com is listed in the US rather than the UK, but is one of the top holdings in the Morgan Stanley Global Brands fund. The group also owns priceline.com, agoda.com, Kayak, Rentalcars.com & OpenTable – just in case you need any extras while you’re away*.
It also owns Visa, which is probably what you’re using to pay for it all. It has been a strong performer this year, up 12% for the year to date*** – there are a lot of parents with a lot of summer holidays to pay for.
There’s no getting around it, the summer holidays are likely to be a drain on your patience and resources. However, if you invest in the right fund managers you might get a little of your money back – ready to do it all again next year.
*Source: fund factsheet, 30 June 2025
**Source: Artemis, February 2025
***Source: Yahoo finance, at 21 July 2025
****Source: FTSE 250, 22 April 2025 to 21 July 2025
^Source: fund commentary, Q2 2025
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