Lord Michael Spencer has become chair of Nutshell Asset Management as he increased his shareholding in the business from 25% to 40%.
Spencer originally backed Nutshell in 2019, with the company launching its Nutshell Growth Fund in 2020. Managed by founder Mark Ellis, the fund has returned 14.6% on an annualised basis and 23.7% so far this year. As a whole, Nutshell Asset Management holds £225.8m assets under management as of the end of October.
“I backed Nutshell and its founder Mark Ellis when the firm launched and I am delighted I did so,” Spencer said.
“Since then, they have delivered excellent returns for me and their investors and their performance speaks for itself. So when the team asked me to become Chair I was delighted to accepted and have made a significant additional investment in both the business and the funds alongside my appointment.”
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Nutshell re-evaluates each listed company using its algorithm twice a month, and trades its portfolio regularly, which Nutshell says puts it “in contrast to traditional conviction buy-and-hold managers”. At the beginning of 2024, Spencer wagered £10,000 that Nutshell Growth would outperform Fundsmith Equity in the year, and in July doubled his bet. Year to date, Fundsmith has returned 10.7% according to FE Analytics.
“We’re grateful to Lord Spencer for his continued support and as one of the UK’s foremost financiers, we’re honoured to now have him join the board as chair. 2024 has been an exciting year for Nutshell; we have seen a significant increase in our AUM, delivered another strong year of performance and in July we took the decision to offer retail and institutional investors a significant reduction in fees, with a saving of up to 75 basis points, to ensure that the widest possible range of investors can now back us and our proprietary model,” Ellis said.
