{"text":[[{"start":7.58,"text":"UK fund manager Nick Train has said his trust has delivered its best monthly performance since 2000 and that he hopes his investment strategy is past its “nadir” following a brutal five years in which he failed to beat the wider market."}],[{"start":22.26,"text":"Train, who manages the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust, told clients in a webinar last week that some of his largest holdings that were perceived as “AI losers” have recently come roaring back with a strong performance."}],[{"start":36.32,"text":"The fund manager said his trust’s net asset value rose almost 13 per cent in October while the benchmark index was up just 1.1 per cent. Holdings in credit-score company Experian, software group Sage, analytics company Relx, London Stock Exchange Group and property website Rightmove were the biggest drivers of the improved performance."}],[{"start":58.74,"text":"Train said he hoped he was past “the nadir of the strategy”, adding that earlier this year he had felt “under a lot of pressure . . . because share prices were moving in the opposite direction, in our opinion, from what was going on in the businesses” he had invested in."}],[{"start":72.54,"text":"AI-related stocks, which propelled global markets higher in recent years, stumbled in October as investors worried that vast spending on the AI infrastructure build-out might not translate into sufficient returns on investment."}],[{"start":86.92,"text":"The comments from Train, who runs a similar strategy in the separate Lindsell Train UK Equity fund, come after a bruising five years in which his strategy underperformed the FTSE All-Share index. The Finsbury trust dropped almost 8 per cent in net asset value last year as the index rose 24 per cent."}],[{"start":106.5,"text":"The lengthy lag in performance led the trust’s board to hold a continuation vote earlier this year — the first in the trust’s 100-year history — on whether to keep Train as manager. Ninety-six per cent of shareholders voted to retain him."}],[{"start":121.2,"text":"Investors have pulled millions of pounds from his strategy in recent years, leaving his trust and fund with assets under management of less than £1bn each."}],[{"start":129.86,"text":"However, since he began running the trust at the end of 2000, his investments have returned 685 per cent, compared with the benchmark’s 375 per cent."}],[{"start":140.54,"text":"Train told clients in his webinar that the sudden reversal of fortunes for data-focused businesses such as Relx, Sage and LSEG came despite a broader sell-off in AI stocks."}],[{"start":152.22,"text":"He said this was because the data businesses he backed had developed their own AI tools, which were finally gaining traction with customers, resulting in revenue growth for the companies."}],[{"start":162.94,"text":"“And that’s a pretty stark counter to the argument that these companies are just structural AI losers. We’ve never believed . . . that was the case and we think that it is so important to see what the companies are saying and how the companies are performing."}],[{"start":176.46,"text":"“To us, these are not AI losers. They’re businesses with potentially a multiyear opportunity to grow their businesses.”"}],[{"start":184.02,"text":"Train said the buoyant performance last month was also spurred by his exposure to certain consumer stocks, with Unilever and Fevertree both up about 10 per cent."}],[{"start":199.5,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794287706_5072.mp3"}