Private Clients
Appointing an investment manager is a big step. Here is a guide to what we do and how we do it. As a professional investment firm, we construct portfolios for clients wishing to invest a minimum of £15,000. To find out more about us, our expertise, and our bespoke investment services for private clients, please contact us.
We provide what is known as a discretionary portfolio management service, which means we handle all the day to day investment decisions on your behalf. We agree at the outset strict limits on the maximum and minimum exposure we will take to each broad asset class thereby tailoring each client’s portfolio to their specific requirements.
Our investment philosophy and process
We believe in managing risk by maintaining broad diversification in our portfolios both at stock and asset level. By design our portfolios are more diverse than many of our peers thereby lowering portfolio risk without impairing performance.
We know our limitations and only invest directly in areas where we are close to the market and have significant expertise; this is largely confined to UK equities and bonds. We delegate individual stock picking and trading in other asset classes to carefully chosen third party managers.
Starting from an informed overview of global markets and the current position in the economic cycle we aim to be always moving into areas that are coming into favour with investors and reducing investment in areas that are beginning to look expensive when compared with the expected return.
Unlike many of our competitors we have particular expertise and access to the “wholesale markets”. The attractions of buying stock at a discount to the prevailing market price when additional capital is raised, or when a large stockholder sells shares for reasons that are unconnected with the fortunes of the company are plain to see.
Our access to the wholesale markets provide our clients with direct access to the growing number of Initial Public Offerings (IPO’s) that are not marketed to the general public.
We are discerning and disciplined investors and only invest in listed companies that have a viable business plan and a record of cash generation. We are valuation aware and will not overpay for growth or get sucked in to cheap stocks with low growth prospects.
When investing in third party funds we favour managers with consistently good performance and adherence to a well articulated investment approach. To reduce risk portfolios will have exposure to managers with a range of investment styles, which will be varied according to our expectations for markets as a whole.
How we administer your investments
Before you become a client we will send you a detailed investment proposal showing exactly how we plan to invest your money and why we and/or your financial adviser believe our plan is suitable for you.
For your protection all investments are held in a separate nominee account and you will always retain full beneficial ownership of your assets. Cash is held in a segregated account with a leading UK clearing bank in accordance with the FCA’s client money rules.
We will collect all dividends and interest payments, deal with takeovers and other offers or capital reorganisations, and exercise conversion, subscription and voting rights on behalf of our clients.
We use our own ISA to manage your ISA assets alongside your taxed portfolio and we also manage money in SIPP’s and both onshore and offshore bonds.
For taxed portfolios, following the end of the tax year we will send you a full tax pack to help you, or your accountant, complete your tax return. This includes details of all investment income and capital gains/ losses.
What service levels can you expect
As a client, you will have direct access to the manager responsible for looking after your portfolio. And because we are a small team working closely together, should your manager be unavailable, we will always have someone here who can help you.
We will aim to meet you (and your professional adviser if appropriate) at least once a year to review our investment decisions, update you on the performance of your portfolio and discuss where we think the market is heading. It is also an opportunity for you to ask questions, and advise us of any change in your circumstances or requirements.
At the end of each calendar quarter, we will send you valuation reports which include details of all transactions and performance relative to an appropriate benchmark. You can also use our online valuation service to access the up to date value of your portfolio and to see details of transactions.
Our process is designed to ensure that investment decisions can be implemented across all investment portfolios with similar objectives in a consistent and structured manner. In short we want all client portfolios to benefit from our best ideas rather than just a select few.