Meet The Manager - James Henderson

Involved with investment trusts throughout his career, James investment style is driven by value in companies of all sizes, seeking out opportunities through a contrarian approach and focusing on medium to long term growth. James has also managed Henderson Opportunities Trust since January 2007.

Fund Manager's Commentary - December 2011 

Global equities remained relatively flat in December. There was evidence of continued improvement in US growth, with an unexpected drop in unemployment to 8.6%. In the eurozone there were some signs of stabilisation, however on the whole activity continued to contract. Similarly, in the UK the downward trend continued, retail sales dropped 4% month-on-month as higher prices combined with lower consumer confidence hit the high street. The leading sectors from the FTSE All-Share Index were tobacco and construction & materials gaining 4.5% and 3.9% respectively, while weaker sectors included industrial metals, personal goods and automobiles & parts losing 11.9%, 5.8% and 5.6% respectively. We made no changes to the portfolio this month.

UK equities are cheap on historic measures of value such as the price-to-earnings ratio. Companies in the portfolio have taken strong action to position themselves for a difficult economy. For these firms, corporate cash generation is high and as a result their company balance sheets are improving as they pay off their debt. The UK economy is rebalancing and export performance is improving. Retail sales have remained relatively unchanged since the recession, whilst the production of motor vehicles has shown modest growth. Wage inflation in China is boosting the production and exporting of motor vehicles from the UK. With this in mind, the fund is overweight in industrials to take advantage of this increase in production.