Meet The Manager - James Henderson

James Henderson joined Henderson Global Investors in 1984 and has managed Henderson Opportunities Trust since January 2007. Involved with investment trusts throughout his career, James has an aggressive, stock picking investment style which is value driven and he seeks out opportunities among large, medium and small companies. James has also managed the highly successful long-term performance of Lowland Investment Company since 1990.

Fund Manager's Commentary  – December 2011

December brought to a close a difficult and troubling year for investors on a global basis. The only major equity market to show growth was the biggest of all, the US, which as measured by the Dow Jones Index rose by 5.5% in the year although the more broadly-based S&P Composite Index was flat over the same period. Being flat on the year was still surprisingly good when compared to major eurozone markets and leading emerging markets, which saw falls ranging from 17% to 25%. In the UK, large, liquid and defensive stocks performed best and this was reflected in the FTSE 100 Index falling 5.5% whereas small caps fell nearly 18% and AIM fell by 25%. These falls were not driven by over valuation of equities but by fears about eurozone sovereign debt and banks’ liquidity leading in turn to fears about a double dip recession and hence a negative impact on corporate profits.

Markets did rally towards the end of the year with the FTSE 100 rising by just over 1%, but the FTSE 250 Index fell by 2%, on low volumes as trading unwound towards the year end. The Trust’s net asset value was virtually unchanged on the month.

Within the portfolio the most significant trading in December took place in the shares of the Trust itself rather than in the underlying investments. We bought back 100,000 shares, about 1% of the outstanding equity, at an average discount of nearly 28% to net asset value, thus enhancing returns for all remaining shareholders. Gearing rose modestly to 14.9% mostly as a result of the share buy backs referred to above.