Points of View: Troy Asset Management hires Blake Hutchins

This week Harry Scargill of NW Brown Wealth Management looks at the Trojan Income Fund, a fund that aims to provide investors with sustainable and growing income with the potential for capital growth.

Troy Asset Management, a boutique investment house that has gained a strong reputation through their investment approach of selecting high-quality companies and focusing on capital preservation, manages the fund out of its London office.

Last week Troy announced that it has hired Blake Hutchins from Investec. Blake will be joining as a co-manager on the Trojan Income Fund, as well as the Ethical Income Fund and the Troy Income & Growth investment trust. The Income Fund has been managed by Francis Brooke since the launch in 2004, with current Deputy Manager, Hugo Ure, joining in 2011. Since inception the fund has performed very well, gaining 246% against 196% for the FTSE All-Share.

Hutchins had been manager of the Investec UK Equity Income Fund since its launch in 2015. While the performance of the fund has been good, Investec has struggled to gather assets and currently it sits at just £125m in size. Hutchins seems a very good fit, as his process and style of investing is similar to that of Troy’s. The managers look for quality companies with high returns on invested capital, competitive advantages and strong balance sheets. This focus tends to mean they invest much more in the consumer goods, healthcare and software sectors than, say, mining companies or housebuilders. This style means that the fund has generally outperformed during times of market stress but can lag behind when more cyclical companies perform well.

Investors will be keen to see what ideas Hutchins has for the strategy and if he will be able to emulate his previous success now that he will be part of a team managing a much larger amount of money.



Read more

Looking for something specific?