Nick Train is one of the UK’s most successful fund managers. His strategy boils down to buying good companies with high-quality brands, holding for the long run and – famously – spending as little time as possible worrying about the wider economy. However, the Covid-19 lockdown has been hard to ignore and in his commentary to the half-year results of the Lindsell Train investment trust (which has climbed by more than 600% over the past decade), he gives his views on prospects for his holdings in a post-coronavirus world.
Companies with a “digital growth story” have actively benefited from lockdown, notes Train, with payments processor PayPal and video-games giant Nintendo among the trust’s biggest gainers this year. However, the drinks industry – another of Train’s favoured sectors – has lagged. In other financial shocks “drinks companies have earned a reputation for being ‘defensive’”. But this time the likes of Heineken have suffered as pubs and restaurants have shut and people have socialised less.
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