Inglis-Jones and West escape the distractions of market 'noise' in the UK's south-west
The dislocations of 2008 seem to have vindicated the decision of Liontrust European managers Gary West and James Inglis-Jones to base themselves in Devon, in the south-west of the UK, away from the market 'noise'.
Gary West and James Inglis-Jones
Ensconced on opposite sides of the Tamar estuary, the pair rely on their labour-intensive and numbers-based investment process - believing that their time is more profitably spent ploughing through company accounts than perusing broker research or meeting company managers.
During 2008 the fund was one of Europe's better long/short equity performers - gaining 11.33% in a brutal year for most equity strategies after a very strong return of 27.99% in 2007. The approach is based on the premise that company managers are generally poor forecasters - and that an over-optimistic outlook can frequently lead to misallocation of resources,...