The TM CRUX UK Special Situations Fund has generated a 44 per cent return for investors over its first three years, underscoring the attractions of long-term capital growth through bottom-up, high-conviction investing in mispriced British stocks.
The Fund is ranked amongst the top 10 performers investing in UK companies over the last year and has grown to over GBP200 million AUM.
Launched in October 2018, the TM CRUX UK Special Situations Fund balances growth and value, investing in UK companies experiencing strong growth but are trading at attractive valuations. The Fund also backs companies where the prospects of management change and a recovery in earnings are undervalued by the market. The Fund is managed by AAA Citywire-rated Richard Penny, who has 28 years’ investment management experience including 15 years at Legal & General Investment Management.
Richard Penny, fund manager at CRUX, says: “The UK, with its lower valuations and recovering earnings, offers valuable and very necessary diversification for global equities portfolios. At the three-year mark, the TM CRUX UK Special Situations Fund has built a strong track record of value creation for investors through investments in underappreciated UK equities, which continue to trade at a discount to global competitors.”
The Fund’s standout performers since inception include Kistos PLC, a fast-growing energy business brought to market by ex- Rockrose Executive Chairman, Andrew Austin. Priced at 100p in November 2020, its shares ended September at 363p following a spike in gas prices.
The Fund has also backed Inspecs, the designer, manufacturer and distributor of eyewear frames for global retailers, which has more doubled in value in the past year. The Fund is also invested in Vistry, the house-building and design company, whose share price has also doubled over the past year as investors anticipated that strong sales and cash generation would resume with the eventual ending of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
“A recovering UK economy and considerable activity in fund raising and corporate changes are helping to drive opportunities to deploy capital at attractive valuations in the UK stock market, particularly in small cap companies where investor appetite is strong,” says Penny. “With UK stock valuations being below those in other markets, we expect positive momentum through the rest of 2021 and look forward to expanding our investor base further.”
