Thank you for the kind words, HM 🙂

JEO seems to have lagged the sector a little since the end of July as well, but I don’t think you can draw any conclusions from such a short timescale. Hope it comes good for you.

Have only become aware of your website 2 months ago, and I congratulate you on the level of detail and research you go into, as well as the excellent writing style which makes it so easy to read. Keep up the good work and thank you!

Thanks for those insights Tom. Always great to hear from someone who has been following these folks for a long time. For many years, I largely limited my research to the trusts I held, so part of the reason for this blog is to catch up with other parts of the IT world that have passed me by.

Interesting about the large abode he has and I suspect there is some truth in that these older managers (Smith, Lindsell, and Train) are all now gradually winding down their day-to-day involvement. Perhaps the experience they now have is a substitute for the extra hours they used to put in, but it’s tough to know from the outside.

I’m sure a large chunk of the performance fees that JEO earned for Jupiter will have been paid to Darwell, but I would have thought his JEO stake is still his major asset.

Darwall did remark in that podcast that he felt reinvigorated by launching Devon. And I suspect the Wirecard fiasco may even prove beneficial in the long term, as I doubt he’d want this episode to dominate his legacy.

Will be an interesting story to watch!

Wirecard has clearly been a problem for a while – I think you offer one of the best explanations – it would be hard not to have a big anchor bias towards any investment that has rewarded you so handsomely.

I have been uncomfortable with one or two other holdings over the years (though I may be being wishy-washy) such as Provident Financial – apart from the fact that the stock crashed (again after superlative performance for a long time), I don’t feel entirely uncomfortable investing in ‘money-lenders’ or some might say loan sharks, though I know there is an argument they provide a necessary service. And I also wasn’t a massive fan of ‘Genetically-Modified’ Syngenta – again a very subjective PoV.

While it’s disappointing that they didn’t spot the Wirecard problem, when others had, I do admire the way they unemotionally sold it straightaway. It’s interesting to see how people react when they do make a mistake.

I read a very interesting paper recently putting a good argument for Europe’s continuing decline versus the US and China, so my European weighting is drifting down. I am happy to get most exposure from Fundsmith and Lindsell Train.

But if I was going to invest in Europe, Darwall would be up there, though I’d also put the Comgest Euro Smlr Cos fund into consideration, which is very much a European version of Smithson.

My only final wondering is how hungry Darwall is (perhaps more so since he left Jupiter, not that it helped Woodford…). He is extremely wealthy, with some impressive country property (side research R US…) and there is always the chance that after many years of intense work and success, he’s enjoying the fruit of his labours, and is not focused on work as much. Against this is his multi-million pound shareholding in the trust, though it’s probably chump change against what he’s earned over the years.

I think this is something one always has to bear in mind with successful fund managers. It’s not always easy to identify – one has to try and make a judge of character with whatever you have.

Some decent points made on JEO in the latest Funds Fanatic podcast: https://citywire.co.uk/investment-trust-insider/news/wirecard-scandal-my-faith-in-darwall-has-been-shattered/a1373339

Both Gavin Lumsden and Dan Grote were shareholders it appears. They also pointed out that Darwall owns over 3% of the trust’s shares, which I missed completely as it didn’t seem to be mentioned in last year’s annual report for some reason. Have amended the article therefore.

Wirecard has filed for insolvency today and the share price has crashed again to 3 euros. So it’s down some 90% from my rough estimate of the price European Opportunities got when it ditched its position last week.

However, it’s always worth bearing in mind that large chunks of annual reports are effectively marketing and tell shareholders what they want to hear (maybe less so with investment trust than ordinary businesses). So we always need to be wary of getting too cosy with management – something I am occasionally guilty of!