Archive

Terry Smith comments on the implications of the Libor scandal on retail banking, arguing that it demonstrates why investment and retail banks must be separated.

Terry Smith, Chief Executive of Fundsmith comments on today's FSA Platform consultation paper

Terry Smith writes to the Financial Times to point out that investors are only starting to realise what Warren Buffett has known for decades - that return on capital employed is the best measure of managerial performance.

ISA Buyers Beware - Largest UK Asset Managers Still Charge Initial Fees

“At Fundsmith we continue to invest in good companies at reasonable valuations and then do the most difficult thing: as little as possible."

Terry Smith argues that David Cameron was right not to agree to the proposed changes to the Treaty of Lisbon at the latest summit, as financial services are a far more vital part of the UK’s economy than they are of any European country.

Sir, I refer to Alice Ross's article " Market timing errors prove too costly " (FT Money, November 20). The article quoted Skandia saying that behaviour on its investment platform reflects the fact that many investors buy UK equities in response to what the FTSE has been doing - buying more when it is high and less when it is low - a recipe for poor investment performance adding further justification to the notion that most investors are their own worst enemy.

Terry Smith writes on the loss of a unique boxing champion, Joe Frazier.

Fundsmith today announces that it is the first UK fund management company to use the recent UCITS IV legislation allowing them to launch a regulated SICAV feeder fund in Luxembourg.

The losses of $2bn incurred by an allegedly rogue trader on the Delta One desk at UBS have again raised the subject of the (lack of) risk controls by banks dealing in opaque instruments, the need to separate investment and retail banking and the risks inherent in ETFs.

Investment Week - UBS debacle highlights dangers of ETFs

Terry Smith argues that the sovereign debt crisis he predicted in 2008 has arrived, and that none of the piecemeal measures being proposed will work until the fundamental issues are addressed.

Fundsmith today announces plans to launch a Junior ISA. As the latest savings initiative from the Government to promote investing for children, Fundsmith would welcome the Junior ISA investment limit being raised 20% to £3,600 and would also encourage the Government to convert Child Trust Funds to Junior ISAs to aid simplicity, broader consumer adoption and equal opportunities for all children to maximise their savings.

Terry Smith gives his account on News Corp, highlighting how extraordinary share arrangements insulate Rupert Murdoch from the repercussions of the company’s underperformance.

Investment Week - Murdoch should give up control of News Corp

This week there was a new development in the share buyback mass shareholder value destruction exercise which has gripped American companies and has some following in the UK.

When Mandy Rice-Davies was giving evidence at the trial of Stephen Ward, charged with living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and Rice-Davies, in the Profumo Affair, she made a famous riposte. When the prosecuting counsel pointed out that Lord Astor denied an affair or having even met her, she replied, "Well, he would, wouldn't he?" (often misquoted as "Well he would say that, wouldn't he?"). By 1979 this phrase had entered the third edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

Terry Smith states that many exchange-traded funds (ETFs) do not contain a basket of the underlying securities or assets which they are attempting to track, and how there are obvious dangers in such an arrangement.

On 11th January I published my first annual letter to the holders of the Fundsmith Equity Fund. In it I levelled some criticisms at the investment fad for Exchange Traded Funds ("ETFs").

Almost 20 years on from publishing my book, Accounting for Growth, I am exposing another loophole in the accountancy rules which is allowing companies to appear to have created value when they have not.