Connected Investor - The Brunner Investment Trust PLC Podcast

In the 21st episode of Connected Investor, Joe Lynam and Julian Bishop navigate the choppy waters of national politics and their ripple effects through global markets. With the recent political changes in the UK and the much-anticipated US presidential election, what can investors expect from the stock market?

A multi-decade re-engineering of the entire global economy” – Julian Bishop, co-lead portfolio manager of Brunner debates the realities of the energy transition with host Joe Lynam. He argues that the production of nearly everything in the world relies on fossil fuels to some degree, something that will inevitably take time to change. The duo also examine the tie in with global population size and growth, look at whether energy in general and renewable energy in particular contains opportunities for investors, and draw their conclusions on the ultimate realities of the energy transition

The ‘Magnificent 7’ have been much heralded as the drivers of stockmarket performance over the past year or so, but are they all performing strongly, and what might be some other ways of accessing technology sub-sector growth? Joe and Julian also discuss a couple of more traditional companies added to the portfolio earlier this year.

In this latest episode we look deeper into some of the things that portfolio companies actually do. In particular, host Joe Lynam and co-lead portfolio manager Julian Bishop examine some of the extreme technology needed to create the world’s most powerful semiconductor chips. The term ‘cutting-edge’ may often be overused, but in this case the sheer physics of what is being achieved by some of the leading companies is, quite simply, astounding.

In this latest podcast, we ask “what just happened” in the first half of 2023 and what did we learn as investors? Whilst there were quite benign returns in sterling terms, underneath the surface there was plenty of drama with a reversal of what happened in 2022 – tech roared back strongly from its lows and the 2022 winners like oil and gas resumed their longer-standing underperformance of recent years. After something of a frenzy in May and June, and associated predictions of the end of the world as we know it, is some of the hype surrounding AI now abating – and what does that mean for markets?

In this latest podcast the team look at the factors to consider when investing around the theme of decarbonisation and how companies with strong decarbonisation credentials, able to drive the energy transition, are considered within the investment universe. What elements shape the pathway to net zero and what will be required to get there? With that view in mind, which companies could be well placed to capitalise and therefore provide good investment returns for investors? Electricity generation, energy storage and transportability all come under the spotlight.

In this latest podcast Joe and Christian discuss the factors that led to us seeing almost double-digit inflation last year. Are those drivers now retreating and, if so, are they falling quick enough? The pair also focus in on the undeniable fact that across the globe people are living longer and, hopefully, healthier and wealthier lives. They discuss how that might affect the decision making for governments who see shortages in the workplace and not enough income tax coming in, but also how Christian and the team address this theme in terms of the Brunner portfolio.

 Recorded and produced by Lansons.

Host Joe Lynam sits down with portfolio manager Christian Schneider for the first time in 2023 and asks if the turbulence seen in 2022 could be repeated. Inflation appears to be retreating to some extent due to diminishing increases in base factors such as the price of oil, however Christian and the team also see that inflation may be more persistent, albeit at a lower level. The extent of any recession in 2023 will likely govern the direction of interest rates and that also comes under the microscope, but Christian describes how the team concentrate on picking stocks to a balanced, all-weather approach and not spending too much time trying to predict the direction of the economy.

Recorded and produced by Lansons.

Host Joe Lynam asks – are we entering a ‘tech winter’ given the vicious sell-off this year?

Portfolio manager Christian Schneider gives the background to what we’ve seen afflict the highest growth stocks over the past year (a large number of which reside in the tech sector) and what the outlook may be for the sector, but in particular how differentiation is needed between different types of technology stocks as the sector covers a very large spread of firms and sub-sectors.

Recorded and Produced by Lansons.

Inflation is rampant and central banks are reacting strongly with associated rate rises. At the same time some governments are looking at policies reflecting a very present need to try to buffer current hardships for people. Given Brunner’s focus on growth stocks that have been hit particularly hard by this high inflation and rising interest rate backdrop, will this affect the investment philosophy at all?

Recorded and Produced by Lansons.