RIT Capital Partners

[Dod101]

The trio of RIT Capital Partners, Ruffer Investment Co, and Personal Assets are often compared when thinking about capital protection - so here is a 5-year total return graph - courtesy Hargreaves Lansdown - comparing all three.

The 5 year total returns are Personal Assets = 23.2%, Ruffer = 21.8% and RIT Capital Partners = -2.6%

Maybe they are compared but RIT's portfolio is so different that I do not think that they should be. They do not claim to be a wealth preserver as the other two do. I thought that the usual trio was Personal Assets, Ruffer and CGT?

Dod

[Monty]

If I recall correctly, it was RIT Capital Partners thatasked to be moved from the AIC Global sector to their current one that leads to comparison with the likes of PNL. Whilst in the Gloval sector they were comparatively poor performers, perhaps they are more suited to a multi asset or similar category if one existed within the AIC.

Prior to their meltdown, I held RIT at 20% of the portfolio but reduced to 0% in January as the news was all bad. I have just added 5% back following better news and a couple of recommendations. This portfolio is one that went 100% passive in January but now holds RCP and FCIT (Foreign & Colonial) which sits on a healthy discount and perhaps has some additional value over a global passive which it usually mirrors in performance terms.

[Monty]

Apologies for my spelling, I am having trouble with the small text of this forum and can not find a way to increase the text size other than fiddling with my browser setting.

Monty

[mc2fool]

If I recall correctly, it was RIT Capital Partners thatasked to be moved from the AIC Global sector to their current one that leads to comparison with the likes of PNL. Whilst in the Gloval sector they were comparatively poor performers, perhaps they are more suited to a multi asset or similar category if one existed within the AIC.

As I recall it, RCP, PNL, CGT & RICA where all original members of the AIC's Flexible Investment sector, all of them being moved to it at the same time on its creation, I believe.

And I'm sure I remember RCP being at or close to the top of the Global sector, performance wise, when it was there....


http://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/rit-capital-partners-RCP/share-price

[Monty]

If I recall correctly, it was RIT Capital Partners thatasked to be moved from the AIC Global sector to their current one that leads to comparison with the likes of PNL. Whilst in the Gloval sector they were comparatively poor performers, perhaps they are more suited to a multi asset or similar category if one existed within the AIC.

As I recall it, RCP, PNL, CGT & RICA where all original members of the AIC's Flexible Investment sector, all of them being moved to it at the same time on its creation, I believe.

And I'm sure I remember RCP being at or close to the top of the Global sector, performance wise, when it was there....

Thanks mc2fool, I enjoy your posts. Yes I believe it did move to the Flexible sector when that launched some 6 or 7 years ago but at the time I clearly remember comment that they had wanted the move away from Global. I also recall it being a comparatively poor performer during the time that I held it when in Global. That's not to say other Globalists were better as I never felt RCP was of the same ilk, the same as today where RCP is not the same or even similar to PNL. Having said that, RCP was at one time a very good performer hence why I was drawn to it. A chart of when I roughly held RCP follows although I'm not sure if this will work

[Monty]

ps. The chart does not cover the period when it joined the Flexible sector although I did continue to own it.

[Dod101]

Personally I do not care what sector any of these trusts are assigned to. RIT has done me very well over a long period and it is really only in the last year that it has fallen off its pedestal. I have full confidence that it will come good again. But it is not and has never claimed to be a wealth preserver either first and foremost or as far as I am aware, ever.

Dod

[mc2fool]

As I recall it, RCP, PNL, CGT & RICA where all original members of the AIC's Flexible Investment sector, all of them being moved to it at the same time on its creation, I believe.

And I'm sure I remember RCP being at or close to the top of the Global sector, performance wise, when it was there....

Thanks mc2fool, I enjoy your posts. Yes I believe it did move to the Flexible sector when that launched some 6 or 7 years ago but at the time I clearly remember comment that they had wanted the move away from Global. I also recall it being a comparatively poor performer during the time that I held it when in Global. That's not to say other Globalists were better as I never felt RCP was of the same ilk, the same as today where RCP is not the same or even similar to PNL. Having said that, RCP was at one time a very good performer hence why I was drawn to it. A chart of when I roughly held RCP follows although I'm not sure if this will work

Oh right, where "comparatively" is to cherry picked ten-bagger performers like Lindsell Train and Scottish Mortgage! Now compare the last 2 years for the three.

I guess it depends on where you start and what period you're looking at, and you can always find something that performed better, but I do remember RCP being consistently in the top quartile of the old Global section for a long time. But there's no doubt that the recent performance hasn't been exactly great....

[scrumpyjack]

They aren't a wealth preservation trust but they do aim to limit downside risk.

"Therefore we aim to deliver healthy participation in up markets with reasonable protection in down markets. Over time this should allow us to compound ahead of markets through the cycles.

Since inception, we have participated in 74% of monthly market upside but only 41% of the market declines. A shareholder who invested in RIT at inception has seen a share price total return of 10.7% per annum, which represents a meaningful outperformance of global equity markets."

At the moment their discount of 21% is historically very high, partly because all IT discounts have increased but particularly those with unquoted investments. Time will tell whether the unquoted investment valuations are as robust as management claim, but I have no reason to think they aren't.
I shall carry on holding.

[Monty]

Oh right, where "comparatively" is to cherry picked ten-bagger performers like Lindsell Train and Scottish Mortgage! Now compare the last 2 years for the three.

No cherry picking at all, I simply charted trusts that were also popular in the Global category at the time. The recent chart doesn't look any better for RCP although as you know LTI and SMT are heavily down whilst Alliance, FCIT and WItan less so.

[Monty]

They aren't a wealth preservation trust but they do aim to limit downside risk.

"Therefore we aim to deliver healthy participation in up markets with reasonable protection in down markets. Over time this should allow us to compound ahead of markets through the cycles.

Since inception, we have participated in 74% of monthly market upside but only 41% of the market declines. A shareholder who invested in RIT at inception has seen a share price total return of 10.7% per annum, which represents a meaningful outperformance of global equity markets."

At the moment their discount of 21% is historically very high, partly because all IT discounts have increased but particularly those with unquoted investments. Time will tell whether the unquoted investment valuations are as robust as management claim, but I have no reason to think they aren't.
I shall carry on holding.

Thanks for your post which I agree with. The big fall for RCP followed the article by the Telegraph, I was surprised by how many people appeared to blindly follow Questor. Private Equity is currently sitting on large discounts and throwing up some interesting opportunities in that sector as well as for trusts such as RCP which I also hold.

[Dod101]

I doubt that the power of Questor is quite that good. However I was pleasantly surprised to find in another week of falling prices, that RIT (or RCP if you prefer) is one of the very few to have held up quite well.

Dod

[Adamski]

All of the wealth preservers which personally I'd include RCP have done badly this year. Why hold one of them when you can have a 2 year fixed interest saver at over 5%, Tesco 5.7%? I think as interest rates have gone up the attraction of these have gone down. And possibly will remain the case until interest rates come back down, which will take a while.