Citywire South West 2025

Join portfolio manager Kirsty Gibson as she reveals the Baillie Gifford American Fund's unique approach to long-term value creation. Discover our distinctive stock selection process focusing on patient capital and disruptive innovation. Kirsty will discuss key holdings, address macroeconomic themes, and demonstrate how our philosophy translates into a high-conviction portfolio poised for long-term growth. 

Workshop Objective:

1. Learn how patient investors can create lasting value in transformative companies
2. Explore what criteria can be used when identifying and evaluating disruptive companies with long term growth potential
3. Examine real-world case studies of portfolio companies

Company Profile:

Baillie Gifford’s sole business is investment management. Since the company was founded in 1908 it has been a partnership. Today it is owned by 58 partners all of whom work in the business.

We believe that the best investment ideas spring from thinking about future possibilities, not short-term probabilities. We set no barriers to the imagination of our investors, encouraging fresh perspectives and the use of diverse sources of information. We term ourselves Actual Investors.

We currently manage or advise some £219bn on behalf of clients worldwide. Whilst we are predominantly an institutional manager (circa 80% of FUM), we offer an extensive range of investment trusts and open-ended funds to UK wealth managers and intermediaries. 

We appear to be undergoing seismic shifts in the global economic and geopolitical landscapes, as well as equity markets that have become increasingly difficult to navigate. But far from being phased by these conditions, as bottom-up investors we are excited about the diverse range of long-term opportunities that could emerge. Capital Group New Perspective is a global equity strategy that has been investing in change for over 50 years, looking to identify companies that we believe will benefit from shifts in global trade patterns as well as economic and political relationships.

Workshop Objective:

• Reflect on changes that are currently impacting the global economy and financial markets.
• Gain insight into the megatrends expected to shape the investment landscape in the years and decades ahead.
• Examine how flexible approaches could help to navigate what global equity markets have in store.
  
  

Company Profile:

Capital Group is one of the oldest and largest asset management companies in the world, managing multi-asset, equity and fixed income investment strategies for different types of investors. 
Since 1931, Capital Group has been singularly focused on delivering superior, consistent results for long-term investors using high conviction portfolios, rigorous research and individual accountability. Today, Capital Group works with financial intermediaries and institutions to manage more than US$2.8 trillion in long-term assets for investors around the world. 

* As at 30 September 2024.

We live in a fast moving and ever-changing world where businesses need to continually reinvent themselves in order to cope with changes in the business cycle and their specific industries, in order to prosper and thrive. 

By reinvesting in their businesses, companies can nurture their capacity to innovate and develop so that they can maintain their competitive advantage over the years – and drive their revenues.  

Carmignac’s Global Equity team believes that reinvestment is a driver of long-term returns and a proven indicator for selecting long-term winners and building a high performing equity portfolio over time. 

Fund manager Obe Ejikeme will share why we believe the reinvestment rate is a premium worth paying.

Workshop Objective:

Delegates will better understand:
1.    How companies that focus on reinvesting their profits can create lasting value
2.    How it can be important to care about and anticipate the future, and how this can enable sustainable growth
3.    How having a long-term vision is often accompanied by positive social and environmental impacts
 

Company Profile:

Carmignac is one of the leading independent asset management firms in Europe. It is fully owned by the founder, his family, and employees. Founded in 1989, Carmignac values excellence and relies on a strong entrepreneurial culture, which is reflected in the freedom and courage the investment team has to develop strong convictions and implement them.
We are active managers and committed partners to our clients. Our sole mission is to offer investors the best in active and alternative management to help them achieve their long-term goals while contributing to building a more sustainable world. We are transparent about our investment decisions and always take responsibility, prioritising the interests of our clients. We have made this conviction our brand signature: "Investing in your interest".

Despite a dynamic economic, political, and policy backdrop, EdenTree Green Future Fund has delivered solid returns over its three-year tenure. The fund’s differentiated investment approach founded on over 20 years of experience of lead manager and CIO, Charlie Thomas has been the key to success. Extensive market knowledge, technological expertise, and investment skill have enabled the fund not only to avoid significant drawdowns in specific environmental themes but seek under researched and undervalued companies with strong growth that provide solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. Securing the SDR Sustainability Impact Label was confirmation of our dedication and ability to provide genuine impact as well as financial returns. GARP (Green at a Reasonable Price) is the outcome to our rigorous financial and impact investment process which offers exposure to long term growth trends at compelling valuations and suitable for inclusion in both sustainable and core portfolios.       

Workshop Objectives:

Company Profile:

EdenTree launched its first ethical fund in 1988 and is part of the Benefact Group, founded in 1887 with A.M. Best and Moody's ratings of A and A2 respectively. The Benefact Group, owned by a charity, the Benefact Trust, directs all of EdenTree’s distributable profits to its charitable parent and is the 3rd largest corporate donor in the UK. We are an active fund management business, specialising in delivering client outcomes through the careful selection of intensively screened businesses and assets, irrespective of asset class and market conditions, at appropriate valuations. We believe that responsible stewardship and active engagement with companies are likely to achieve consistent, long-term returns.

How should investors be thinking about fixed income markets in 2025? Join Mike Riddell, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Strategic Bond Fund, to learn about the factors shaping global fixed income markets and how he is navigating a complex backdrop by leveraging alpha from across four core areas.

Workshop Objective:

-Delegates will analyse the latest macro events and the implications for global fixed income markets
-Delegates will analyse four key sources of alpha:
•    Interest Rates
•    Inflation
•    Currencies
•    Credit
-Delegates will explore current example trades from across the four key alpha sources

Company Profile:

At Fidelity International, our purpose is to work together to build better financial futures for our clients and we believe that investing, over the long-term, is critical to achieving that. As a family and management-owned company, we think generationally in terms of the services we build and provide, as well as the way in which we invest on our clients’ behalf. Our focus is on delivering sustainable investment returns for our clients, while managing our impact on society and the environment. To do this, we incorporate sustainability into our business operations and our investment process, working with investee companies to help them operate more sustainably in order to deliver those long-term returns and secure a better future for all.

Heightened volatility has created long-term opportunities across the credit spectrum. Rarely has credit appeared more compelling relative to equities, as starting yields are historically attractive. Are you eager to learn about PIMCO’s current market outlook and where we see value in credit markets today? Are you interested in accessing a global opportunity set through a time-tested approach to flexibly navigate across credit markets? How does a leading fixed income manager with over $500 billion AuM in credit strategies and more than 80 credit analysts pursue resilient portfolio construction across various market scenarios? Join us in our discussions and discover how we generate value for our clients through active management

Workshop Objective:

In this workshop, gain insights into the credit markets and learn how to use these to integrate effective credit strategies into portfolios, understanding the opportunities and underlying risks. 

Company Profile:

PIMCO is a global leader in active fixed income with deep expertise across public and private markets. We invest our clients’ capital in income and credit opportunities that span the liquidity spectrum, leveraging our decades of experience navigating complex debt markets. Our flexible capital base and deep relationships with issuers have helped us become one of the world’s largest providers of traditional and alternative investment solutions and a valued financing partner.

In the original version of the game Snakes and Ladders, players navigate a board of good and bad deeds. The good deeds, such as thrift, penitence and industry, are rewarded with ladders which let players advance quickly. Bad deeds, such as cruelty, indolence and greed, are marked with snake heads. Players who land in a snake square are sent tumbling back down the board. This is thought to be where the phrase ‘back to square one’ originates. 
 
With equity market valuations looking exuberant, geopolitical risks festering and inflationary pressures down but not out, there is the risk that markets are vulnerable to a nasty surprise.
 
At Ruffer, we are laser focused on ensuring this doesn’t happen to our investors in a setup where we see lots of snakes in the year ahead.

Workshop Objective:

1.    The session will educate investors on the likely paths financial markets may follow from here
2.    This session will educate investors on identifying areas of both risk and opportunities for investment portfolios

Company Profile:

At Ruffer, our aim is to deliver consistent positive returns through an unconstrained approach, regardless of how financial markets perform. We seek to achieve this by maintaining an offsetting balance of growth and protective assets and have achieved a long, successful track record of protecting and growing the value of our clients’ assets. Our approach has been successful through periods of market fragility including the bursting of the dot.com bubble, the credit crisis and covid-19. We aim to continue this success, whatever the future holds.

2024 was a banner year for US-focused investors, particularly those allocating to large-cap and technology stocks. Will this winning formula continue?
Market diversification ultimately outperforms concentration over the long haul. Mastering the diversification toolkit with a focus on efficient and cost-effective implementation is therefore crucial to safeguard returns.

Workshop Objective:

Understand the historical and current dynamics of global equity market concentration
Explore various diversification routes, from regional equities to alternative investments
Assess product quality and implementation considerations.

Company Profile:

Xtrackers, the passive solutions platform by DWS has one of the largest and most established product ranges in Europe, with a global presence and more than £200 billion  in assets under management (as of January 2025). Xtrackers has an index track record going back over 20 years and offers a broad range of efficient, high-quality ETFs and ETCs on all major asset classes – equities, bonds and commodities, as well as bespoke strategies through index funds and segregated mandates. Xtrackers provides numerous building blocks across all wrappers for traditional investment strategies, ESG strategies (environmental, social, governance), sector and factor investments, as well as innovative products on thematic investments and future trends.