Henderson Opportunities Trust

Taking AIM at the opportunity

3 October 2024

With a focus on long-term growth, Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT) seeks investment opportunities across the breadth of the UK market. This includes a strong bias towards smaller and earlier-stage companies with significant potential to become tomorrow’s leading British businesses. HOT’s managers, James Henderson and Laura Foll, from Janus Henderson Investors, note that these smaller companies are under-owned, under-researched and lowly valued, and that their extended period of underperformance relative to larger peers should be seen as a pent-up opportunity. With interest rates on a downward path and the UK economy performing better than had been expected, mid- and small-cap company relative performance has begun to improve, and that of HOT as well. MORE »

A differentiated exposure to smaller companies

15 May 2024

With a focus on long-term growth, Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT) seeks investment opportunities across the breadth of the UK market. This includes a strong bias towards smaller and earlier-stage companies with significant potential to become tomorrow’s leading British businesses. There are tentative signs that the significant three-year underperformance of these smaller companies, and of HOT, may be coming to an end. If so, the trust is well placed to benefit and its differentiated, truly all-market approach is one that many investors would struggle to replicate. Moreover, HOT’s size and permanent capital base means that it can act nimbly in less liquid parts of the market and take a patient approach. MORE »

Feeling HOT HOT HOT?

24 June 2021

Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT) has performed particularly strongly over the past 12 months, leading to signs of a reappraisal among investors with the trust’s persistent double-digit discount to NAV narrowing almost to par. Managers James Henderson and Laura Foll have made the best of HOT’s flexible all-cap structure, reaping the benefits of strong performance from early-stage hydrogen plays in 2020 and rotating towards more cyclical names late in the year as the market focus switched to value. The managers see the trust as a ‘good mixer’, with its large exposure to small-cap and particularly AIM stocks meaning it offers significant differentiation both from its peers and the managers’ other portfolios. While focused on capital growth, HOT also offers a 1.9% dividend yield and has a 10-year record of dividend growth (supported by reserves in FY20). MORE »

Enthusiastically esoteric UK equity portfolio

14 January 2021

Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT) has performed strongly since experiencing sharp NAV and share price declines in the Q120 market sell-off, powering to the top of the AIC UK All Companies sector over the past 12 months with an NAV total return of c 40% in the second half of 2020. Managers James Henderson and Laura Foll say performance has benefited from holding a number of ‘next-generation leaders’ in the UK. The portfolio is esoteric in its make-up and seeks to avoid being overly exposed to trends in the global and domestic economy. The managers continue to see good value opportunities across the UK market, particularly on AIM, and say their intention to maintain gearing at a ‘decent’ level (c 10–15%) is indicative of feeling the portfolio and market offer good value. MORE »

Unconstrained UK portfolio with small-cap spice

7 February 2020

Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT) invests in UK stocks across the market cap spectrum. Managed by James Henderson and Laura Foll (who also co-manage Lowland Investment Company and the Law Debenture Corporation), HOT has an unconstrained portfolio that differs markedly from peers and the team’s other funds, with c 70% invested outside the FTSE 350 index, and c 55% in AIM stocks. HOT seeks capital growth but also offers a growing dividend (current yield of 2.4%), paid quarterly from FY20. The managers see the trust as one that will sit beside a mainstream fund in a portfolio and bring diversity to the combined list of holdings, not for the sake of it but for real capital appreciation. While HOT’s long-term performance record is strong, its returns in FY19 suffered as lowly valued UK small-caps (particularly those listed on AIM) have been out of favour. MORE »