About us
Investing in high quality, profitable global
smaller companies
The trust offers investors access to a broadly spread global smaller companies’ portfolio. The portfolio consists of individual smaller company investments within the US, UK and European markets, and fund holdings targeting smaller companies mainly in Japan, Asia, Latin America and other smaller territories.
The dividend of the Company has risen for 53 years in a row, benefiting from a growing income stream from the investment portfolio.
Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Peter Ewins is a Director and Portfolio Manager. He joined Columbia Threadneedle through the acquisition of BMO GAM (EMEA) in 2021, having previously been with BMO (and its predecessor companies) since 1996. Prior to this, he worked for Municipal Mutual Insurance and Commercial Union Insurance (1989-93) and ESN Pension Management (1994-96). Peter has a BA (Hons) in Economics and Statistics from the University of Exeter and is a member of the CFA Society of the UK.
Nish Patel is a Joint Lead Fund Manager. He joined Columbia Threadneedle through the acquisition of BMO GAM (EMEA) in 2021, having previously been with BMO (and its predecessor company) since 2007. He previously worked for Deloitte in their Technology, Media and Telecommunications Audit division. Nish has a BSc in Economics from University College London and is a fully qualified chartered accountant and CFA charterholder.
Our objectives and philosophy
One of the attractions of the Company’s investment mandate is the breadth of opportunities in global smaller companies, with many thousands of listed companies to choose from.
This is a large, diversified universe of exciting opportunities and is not necessarily well researched or understood properly. This leads to ‘market inefficiency’ that we, as disciplined stock pickers, can take advantage of to aim to deliver superior investment performance over the long term.
By having a large and experienced team of smaller company fund managers within Columbia Threadneedle Investments we are well placed to seek out exceptional investment opportunities.
Our philosophy towards investing is based around our belief that investing in high quality companies, run by strong management teams, where the price we pay for our investment is attractive, will generate above average returns for our shareholders.
We want to take a long-term approach towards all our investment decisions and do not look to engage in short-term trading. We look at each potential investment through the same lens. The starting point is an assessment of the core quality of the business franchise.
This will usually be ascertained through face to face meetings or calls with management, sometimes involving visits to business operations. We want to understand the business’s product or service offering and where it has competitive advantages over peers.
Understanding the industry that potential investments operate in is also important as this will help us to recognise how much pricing power the business has – this is particularly important in the current higher inflationary world.
We want companies that we invest in to have positive cashflow characteristics as this indicates good accounting quality, reduces the risk of funding difficulties and creates optionality for further growth. This also means that we will generally avoid conceptual and speculative companies without a track record of profitability. We like our holdings to have strong balance sheets as this promotes financial resilience.
An appreciation of the Environmental Social and Governance (‘ESG’) risks and opportunities around any potential investment is also a key part of our analytical work.
Read more about our objectives and philosophy and three investment case studies.
Investment Risks
The value of your investments and any income from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the original amount invested. Gearing is used for investment purposes to obtain, increase or reduce exposure to an asset, index or investment. The use of gearing can enhance returns to investors in a rising market, but if the market falls the losses may be greater.
Fund Facts
Investment Manager | Columbia Threadneedle Investment Business Limited |
Benchmark | 20% Deutsche Numis UK Smaller Companies (excluding investment companies) Index / 80% MSCI All Country World ex UK Small Cap Index |
AIC sector | Global Smaller Companies |
Launch date | 1889 |
Total assets | £946.2m (as at 31.03.24) |
Currency | Sterling |
ISIN | GB00BKLXD974 |
SEDOL | BKLXD97 |
Ticker symbol | GSCT |
Key Dates
Annual general meeting | July |
Year end | 30 April |
Dividends paid | August and January |
Results announced | June (final) December (half yearly) |
Sustainability and ESG
Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) issues are the three central factors in measuring sustainability and can present both opportunities and threats to the long-term investment performance the Company aims to deliver to Shareholders. The Board is therefore committed to taking a responsible approach to ESG matters.
There are two strands to this approach. The Company’s own responsibilities on matters such as governance and the impact it has through the investments that are made on its behalf by its Manager.
Find out more about our approach to sustainability and ESG issues here.
Our Board
Randeep was appointed to the Board on 1 December 2023. Randeep is Chairman of Bellevue Healthcare Trust plc and is a non-executive director of Hox Therapeutics Limited. Previously, he was a non-executive director of Tissue Regenix plc. He has extensive experience as a fund manager and analyst, having held the roles of Portfolio Manager at Trium Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund, Senior Portfolio Manager at F&C Asset Management, Analyst at ICAP Equities and Senior Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Tudor Capital. Prior to the above, Randeep was an NHS Doctor, having trained as a vascular surgeon.
Bulbul was appointed to the Board on 1 December 2023. Bulbul is Head of the Equities Product Group at DBS Bank Ltd London Branch and has over 30 years experience with corporates and investment managers, having formerly been Head of Sales, MD Asian Equities at HSBC, Executive Director, Asian Equities at Goldman Sachs, Director of Asian Equities at UBS and Associate Director, Asian Equities at WI Carr.
Anja was appointed to the Board on 1 June 2015. She is a non-executive director of MGM Assurance (Trustees) Limited and Scottish Friendly Assurance, where she chairs the Investment Committee and is a member of the Finance & Corporate Services Committee of Carnegie UK Trust. She was formerly chair of Schroder Japan Trust plc.
Graham was appointed to the Board on 1 October 2019. He is currently the non-executive chairman of Ideal Standard International NV (Belgium) and of MCF Limited, and he is also a non-executive director of Tunstall Integrated Healthcare Holdings Limited and Videndum plc.
Jo was appointed to the Board on 11 February 2015 and she is also chairman of the audit and management engagement committee. She has substantial investment trust board experience and is currently a non-executive director of, Alliance Trust plc and Bellevue Healthcare Trust plc. She is a director and trustee of Northumberland Pound Limited, a community benefit society.
Invest now
Columbia Threadneedle offer a range of Savings Plans designed to make investing easy.
Start from £25 a month or one off £100, and there are no charges when you deal using our Investor Portal.
Other ways to invest with us
There are a number of ways to invest with Columbia Threadneedle, through a Financial Adviser or a wide range of companies.
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