Thanks Tom. A little less than decent I’d say but no disgrace.

Agreed on the changing of the guard – something I go back and forth on regularly! Less surprised about UK Smaller Companies as I would expect that to be a volatile sector, especially now with its domestic focus.

It’s what makes fund picking so tricky – trying to work out if this is temporary, or if the ‘old gen’ are done with because e.g. they’re old and rich and lack the hunger now, or if their style is no longer working etc. etc.

Ditto it’s a shock seeing the UK Smlr Cos which have been such stalwarts (I always liked SLS and RIII who have had very divergent performance more recently). I wonder if they’ll revive once Brexit uncertainty is cleared?

But more broadly, I am slowly reducing my overall European exposure, given that the Tech game seems to be done so much better in the US and China – there was a piece recently suggesting this was due to the reduced regulations for entrepreneurs compared with Europe. To clarify – I’m not saying I’m following the tech herd – but pretty much every company needs to be a tech company to survive now.

Good luck for H2!

That article was September 2018, a little further back than I remember. It seems to be around 2013 that the divergence begins and tech must have a big part to play.
http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2018/09/uk-v-global-investment-returns.html

Yes, with you on CTY. I offloaded in H2 2018 around the time that I started to build my ‘green’ portfolio…no regrets!

Great album as well.

RIT certainly hasn’t done as well as I’d like, although it was only down some 5% on a NAV basis as it swung for a premium to a discount. I’d say it’s more focused on limiting downside rather than capital preservation like CGT, RICA and PNL. But as long as the big tech stocks are in vogue, it’s going to lag behind I suspect, although it’s not alone in that.

With the UK market, the heavy oil/gas and financial components of the FTSE have definitely been a factor. And most retailers and utilities have struggled recently as well. I’m pleased I cut City of London loose, as that’s down 20% this year.

I think the FTSE and S&P were fairly similar in performance terms from the late 1990s up until 2013/2014 but the gap has grown ever wider since then. It looks Germany, Japan, and Europe as a whole have had similar trouble keeping up though.
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/11/15/1542266674000/The-future-of-the-FTSE-100/

Looks like a very mixed bag there IT. You expect volatility from the smaller companies but I would have wanted a better result from RIT which offers capital preservation!

I seem to remember comparing the FTSE performance with global sometime last year which revealed that the FTSE has been underperforming for at least the past decade. In recent times I would thing the drag will have been a high exposure to the likes of BP and Shell and I don’t see that side of the market recovering. In fact BP look like they will be overtaken by Orsted before much longer!

Good luck with the rest of the year…