A vessel for volatile seas?

Vietnam Holding Limited – Cheap stocks, bold reforms, big ambitions

Vietnam still offers one of the most compelling macro stories across emerging markets. In the short term, concerns over China, US trade policy and a focus on large-cap US tech have seen it left behind, but its fundamentals remain very attractive, and the government is making major structural reforms to support very ambitious GDP growth targets. VNH’s portfolio has been repositioned to take advantage of the expected acceleration in GDP growth, with increased weightings in banking and retail, for example, which are already paying off. Foreign investor flows have not suited VNH’s portfolio, bu...

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies – High growth, bigger yield

Montanaro UK Smaller Companies (MTU) has adopted a new enhanced dividend policy, paying out 1.5% of NAV every quarter. This will make it one of the highest-yielding UK equity strategies on the market. For traditional equity income investors, whose portfolios tend to be tilted towards more value-focused cash-generative stocks, MTU’s combination of a high dividend yield and a strong focus on quality growth stocks differentiates it from peers. UK equities were cheap relative to their history and to developed market peers prior to the tariff-related sell off; now they are even cheaper. In addit...

GCP Infrastructure – Consolidate and capitalise

For most of 2024, financial conditions had finally started to turn favourably for infrastructure investors. Inflation had dropped sharply from the previous year, allowing the Bank of England to begin its easing cycle, while the new government’s ambitious plans for infrastructure development provided a renewed sense of optimism across the sector. These green shoots were evidenced by GCP’s annual results, which showed a total shareholder return of 28.4%, leading to a significant narrowing of its stubborn discount. Unfortunately, a negative reaction to the UK budget, and concerns around the infla...