Delivering on its promise

Since the appointment of Brown Advisory as manager in April 2021, BASC has outperformed the Russel 2000 by c .200bps per annum. We attribute this performance to the team’s consistent commitment to its strategy of owing a fairly concentrated (c.75 investees) but diversified portfolio of durable growth companies. We remind investors that the fund’s high active share (>90%) and avoidance of more cyclical companies can lead to short term divergence from the fund’s comparator index (the Russell 2000)

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies

BASC: small cap quality growth in the world’s largest equity market...

Undiscovered quality growth

Since Chris Berrier of Brown Advisory started managing BASC in April 2021, the fund has underperformed (-1.8% versus -1.0%) the Russell 2000 TR Index and has outperformed in 55% of weekly periods. The team summarise their approach as seeking long term compounders via their 3G (Growth, Governance and Go-to-Market) process. Their aim is to invest in a company at a point of inflection and to own it throughout the time it takes for the market to recognise the change. Trading on a 10% discount to NAV

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies (BASC) offers access to a portfolio of high-quality growth companies in the US small cap market, which brings exposure to the long-term growth potential in the dynamic US economy.

It’s the end of the world as we know it

We examine five potential themes for investors seeking long-term returns in a troubled and uncertain world

Bargain hunt

We survey the discount opportunities in the market and update on the performance of our Discounted Opportunities Portfolio

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies - Review

Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies (BASC) has made a strong start to its life under the new portfolio manager. Chris Berrier of Brown Advisory was named the new manager in late 2020, and management responsibilities transitioned on 1 April 2021 following the retirement of Jupiter’s Robert Siddles. As we discuss under the Performance section, the trust has outperformed under the new strategy, despite choppy markets. Chris’s strategy uses bottom-up analysis to select the best long-term growth opp

How Do You Like Them Apples

Very few investors need to be reminded that the US market has hugely outperformed the rest of the world in the historic bull market following the Great Financial Crisis. Unfortunately, the discretionary fund managers that manage the portfolios of British retail investors need reminding even less, having been as a group systematically underweight in the US in their equity allocations. In the below chart, we have plotted the average US weighting in the equity portion of UK multi-asset funds in the

Bargains galore

We last updated our discounted opportunities portfolio in July. Since then markets have been grinding higher but discounts have not moved – and perhaps slightly widened. We think readers will largely agree that it is hard to have conviction about the direction of markets and leadership at the moment, which may explain the static picture regarding discounts. At a directional level, the easy gains in the recovery have been made, and government support schemes have still to be wound down, creating

Jupiter US Smaller Companies - Overview

Jupiter US Smaller Companies (JUS) will be renamed Brown Advisory US Smaller Companies (BASC) in mid-May, subject to shareholder approval, after the mandate was taken over by the new manager on 1 April 2021. Chris Berrier heads up the Brown Advisory US Small Cap Growth team, and is the new lead manager. He has run the same strategy in the open-ended space since 2006, which has outperformed both the small cap Russell 2000 index and the Russell 2000 Growth. As discussed in performance, the Brown A

FAANGs for the memories

Large-cap technology stocks have dominated global markets in recent years, especially in the US where the FAANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet) have reigned supreme. Combined, the FAANGs and Microsoft currently make up 12% of global equity markets while also having been amongst the best-performing companies globally. Yet we think the future doesn’t look as bright for these giants, with a series of antitrust suits on the horizon and declining tailwinds from COVID-19 lockdowns. Th

Over the pond

From the beginning of April, Brown Advisory (Brown) is set to take over the management of Jupiter US Smaller Companies (JUS), following the retirement of the trust’s long-standing manager, Robert Siddles. Back in December, when JUS’s board announced its intention to appoint Brown, it said that the long and impressive track record of the new manager’s US small-cap growth strategy, with annualised returns of 14.5% over 10 years, stood out in a highly competitive field. It also said that it believe

Over the pond

From the beginning of April, Brown Advisory (Brown) is set to take over the management of Jupiter US Smaller Companies (JUS), following the retirement of the trust’s long-standing manager, Robert Siddles. Back in December, when JUS’s board announced its intention to appoint Brown, it said that the long and impressive track record of the new manager’s US small-cap growth strategy, with annualised returns of 14.5% over 10 years, stood out in a highly competitive field. It also said that it believe

Jupiter US Smaller Companies - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on Jupiter US Smaller Companies and SNP Schneider Neureither & Partner . Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. Previously published reports can still be accessed via our website.

Nanny knows best: how regulation is influencing returns

The most terrifying words in the English language are, or were at least according to the late president of the United States Ronald Regan: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." and for investors in global smaller companies, this could be prescient. Most investors into smaller caps are attracted by the prospect of exponential business growth. Young companies with innovative products are supposed to offer a disruptive threat to established companies, with huge potential markets to grow

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 87p) - Credit rating update reinforces balance sheet quality

SP Angel Morning View: China lithium stocks rally on prospects for market rebound

Regional REIT - Dividend rebase pragmatic and sustainable

Regional REIT’s (RGL’s) post-pandemic recovery in new lettings paused in H123, as occupiers adopted a cautious ‘wait and see’ approach, although rents increased and the strong ‘return to the office’ supports RGL’s expectation that leasing will accelerate. With DPS lowered to match reduced income prospects, the shares have fallen sharply, maintaining a sector-high dividend yield. Including asset sales focused on low-income properties, our forecasts show the rebased dividend to be fully covered an

NFT INVESTMENTS PLC (NFT PZ) - NAV Rises to 4.3P per share

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 1 December 2023

The Joy of Techs - Cavendish Technology quarterly sector note

£23.3bn in enterprise value has been returned to AIM technology shareholders over the past six years in the form of 51 public to private takeouts, including 10 in 2023 alone with the takeovers of Smoove* and Tribal announced in early October. With UK valuations appearing cheap and looking more attractive to potential acquirers, we take a moment to reflect on the trends of corporate and private equity bidders targeting AIM-listed technology companies going back to 2017, through the uncertainties

Henderson Far East Income - Cautious of continued volatility but value on offer

In our last review of Henderson Far East Income (HFEL) in July, Attractive yield despite modest dividend increase, we drew attention to the dividend increase from what is comfortably the highest yielding fund in the AIC Asia Pacific Equity Income sector. It was pleasing to see that in the company’s published full year results to the end of August, the dividends paid by the company were covered and that over £1m was added to the revenue reserves over this period. In this note we examine the drive

Princess Private Equity Holding - Offering an attractive dividend yield

Princess Private Equity Holding (PEY) posted a year-to-date NAV total return (TR) to end-October 2023 of 4.9%, 2.4% of which was from Q323. PEY’s performance continues to be assisted by portfolio earnings, with last-twelve-month (LTM) revenue and EBITDA growth to end-September 2023 of 16% and 15%, respectively, and sustained healthy average EBITDA margin of 24%. PEY’s balance sheet remains firm with c €134m in undrawn credit facility and €3m in cash, further assisted by the Civica sale proceeds

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 85p) - High quality earnings story – upgrade potential

LIBERUM: PensionBee: Hitting milestones despite headwinds

Early Mover in UK Lab-grown Meat

BSF Enterprise Plc (BSF) is a biotechnology company focused on acquiring, combining, and building businesses in the lab-grown tissue space. It aims to achieve this through an acquisition-led growth strategy and has already acquired the tissue engineering and cellular agriculture company, 3D Bio Tissues.

NextEnergy Solar Fund - H1/24 interim results and asset recycling update

NextEnergy Storage Fund now has 100 operational assets with a combined installed capacity of 933MW and exclusivity over, or ownership of the project rights for, most of its c£500m pipeline of domestic and international solar and energy storage assets. H1/24 performance was robust, with power generation in line with budget and the 36MW Whitecross solar farm energised. The first sale from the asset recycling programme has been completed post-period, with the proceeds being used to reduce short-ter

European Opportunities Trust - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on European Opportunities Trust (EOT). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. Previously published reports can still be accessed via our website.

PCI Pal - +25% FY23 revenue growth, FY24 growth of +28% reiterated

PCI Pal’s FY23 results show revenue growth of +25% to £14.9m, gross profit growth of +31% to £13.1m at a margin of 88%, and an outlook confirming robust momentum in H1 24. The FY23 results are as expected following the August trading update, and FY23 Total Annual Contract Value (TACV) is +23% yoy to £16.4m, with ARR +14% yoy to £12.6m due to £3.1m of contracts in deployment. We expect ARR will increase +35% and +31% to £17.0m and £22.2m in FY24 and FY25, as management lands and expands following

R&Q Insurance Holdings - FY22 Results

R&Q reported an adjusted group pre-tax operating loss for the year to end December 2022 of US$33.3m (2021 (US$21.4m)). The results were in line with guidance from the April trading statement but represented a significant deterioration YoY as strong results from the Accredited program management business were more than offset by losses in the R&Q Legacy insurance business and higher corporate costs. On an IFRS reported basis, R&Q made a loss of US$297.0m (2021 (US$127.1m)) generating a loss per s