Nish Patel, manager of the Global Smaller Companies Trust, shares insights into current valuations, the impact of recent interest rate cuts, and how M&A and share buybacks are shaping the small-cap space. Nish shares how his focus on quality businesses with sustainable competitive advantages can offer both growth and reduced risk. We also discuss portfolio changes, including leveraging in-house expertise and reducing holdings to focus on high-conviction ideas. 

What’s covered in this episode: 

• The valuations of smaller companies today
• What catalysts are needed for a small-cap recovery?
• A double discount at play
• Growth companies with lower risk
• Change of management to the trust
• How the team has evolved
• The three types of businesses in the portfolio
• The trust’s long-standing dividend growth
• The attraction of small-caps 

More about the fund: This trust invests in smaller companies from around the world. Fund manager Nish Patel believes that these businesses experience superior growth over the long term compared with larger companies. His goal is to go where other equity researchers won’t, in order to find hidden gems at attractive prices. The firm's small-cap specialists have a well-disciplined investment process and the trust has a strong track record of beating the market. Having recently celebrated its 130th anniversary, the trust is one of the oldest in the market – it has also successfully produced 50 years’ worth of dividend growth for investors.

Learn more on fundcalibre.com

Please remember, we’ve been discussing individual companies to bring investing to life for you. It’s not a recommendation to buy or sell. The fund may or may not still hold these companies at the time of listening. Elite Ratings are based on FundCalibre’s research methodology and are the opinion of FundCalibre’s research team only.