Recent straight-shooter quote:“I intend to pursue legal action against you in every respect in whatever jurisdiction you are in indefinitely. Even if I don’t win I will cause you problems for years.”

Still gives me shivers.

Perhaps a bit off topic...

Steve Jobs fathered a daughter at 23, then denied paternity despite a DNA match, and finally gave approximately $500 a month in child support at a time when he was worth $200 million. Quite movingly told in this memoir.

Despite his personal failings he enjoys practically messianic status in today's popular culture. And that hasn't stopped some of us (dare I say all of us?) owning, and profiting, from AAPL either directly or indirectly.

I'm not defending Terry Smith, I just prefer not to comment on other people's personal lives and conduct as I find that can be a very slippery slope.

My comment was strictly about his investment philosophy and communication style therein.

Thanks.

Probably inclined to agree with David, I am a holder of Fundsmith too. Really like the way TS communicates his strategy, far better than pretty much any other fund manager I can think of.

I hold 2 x quality funds, FS and Threadneedle Global Focus. Meanwhile Blackrock Global Unconstrained is one of 2 funds I have half an eye on for an end of year portfolio change.

Comparing the 3 year to date leaves FS trailing way behind (20% FS, 27% Threadneedle, 32% Blackrock). The iShares World Quality Index is up 25%.

As always YTD is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, 18th March to now is similarly meaningless. And TS has a superb unmatched track record, so not a criticism of FS at all (I know there are some hardcore fans amongst us :-D) , not a knee jerk, and not saying I or anyone else should switch.

BUT I do think it's worth looking at what the competition is doing from time to time.....

In the 18th century, sailors in the Royal Navy mostly lived on ancient, rotten meat in barrels, and hard biscuits with weevils in them. And Rum. Even half a century ago I was fed the most awful rubbish at prep school. Pig's Liver, Sago Pudding, Semolina Pudding, Sprouts, Gala Pie, Skool Sossidges, Prunes in Custard. I would not be inclined to spoil pets.

Thanks for this. I've long admired Premier Miton European Opps, seems a good fund and to be outperforming the FAANG/US Mega Cap heavy funds with zero exposure to that whatsoever is impressive.

The Blackrock fund has pretty much doubled Fundsmith's return in the last year (39% vs 22%) which is quite remarkable. They have a significant advantage in being agile/nimble as a sub £500mn fund. They do also have another big advantage, in so much as the fund launched in Jan 20 and they had a lot of cash that wasn't deployed when the market crashed (I seem to recall them still being really high on cash through Q2 last year) so they will have had the opportunity to deploy cash/get an entry point when stocks have been at very attractive prices. I guess starting a fund with cash when everything is on sale gives you a head start over other funds already holding stuff that drops 20%!

As you mention above the P/S (and P/E) of Fundsmith is now at a point where it is in line with some of the supposed growthier/less defensive quality funds. I wondered out loud earlier in the thread (or perhaps elsewhere) whether Fundsmith "may" become less defensive over time as the stocks it holds become more expensive.

A good example of this is Paypal. I was sometimes surprised to see a stock priced at 70x earnings in the top 10 of a famously valuation conscious manager (though obviously we know TS thinks PE ratio is nonsense and not something he uses to value a business). According to data online Paypals multiple expanded from 33 x earnings to 100 x earnings between 2016 and 2020. Investors are paying for lots of future growth etc, what happens when they miss earnings? We've now seen, it has dropped 28% in 6 months.

I suppose my point is that some of the other "new breed" quality funds that are giving FS a pasting performance wise are taking on no more valuation risk than FS, aren't particularly more volatile than FS, and are relying on the same factor bet as FS. I am asking myself the question of whether the risk/reward ratio for the fund will be as good over the next 5 years as it was over the last 5.