The Brunner Investment Trust announced its launch of a podcast for Lucy Macdonald days before her Allianz GlobaI Investors exit which saw her step down as the trust’s manager.
Allianz GI, the portfolio manager of the trust, sent an email to investors and media on Monday via its communications agency Lansons inviting people to listen to a podcast in which Macdonald talks about what is driving global markets and the investment opportunities.
The podcast was posted to the website on 21 April but the email came on Monday, just three days before the shock announcement on Wednesday that Macdonald was leaving Allianz GI after almost 20 years. As a result, she has stepped down from managing the Brunner trust as well as the Allianz GI Global High Alpha strategies.
Matthew Tillett will take on management of the Brunner portfolio, supported by global equity managers Jeremy Kent and Marcus Morris-Eyton, an RNS from the trust’s board announced.
Unfortunate timing but podcast was released some weeks ago
An Allianz GI spokesperson said they appreciate the timing of the media email was unfortunately quite close to the announcement, but the actual podcast was released some weeks ago.
“The aim of the podcast is primarily about Brunner rather than individuals and we continue to be excited to communicate with investors this way,” they added. “We look forward to continuing this podcast with Matthew as he takes the reins and transitions from deputy to lead PM.”
Fairview Investing investment consultant Ben Yearsley said it was “strange” the podcast was being promoted so soon before the announcement of Macdonald’s departure.
“Surely the marketing team knew what was going on?” he added.
But AJ Bell head of active portfolios said he saw nothing in it, adding it highlighted the independent nature of running an investment trust.
“I would imagine Allianz GI made the decision and immediately informed the board that Lucy was leaving. There is nothing in this in my view as trusts operate their own marketing and Brunner is not part of Allianz, it merely has appointed Allianz to manage it.”
Macdonald reflects on recent sell-off
During the podcast Macdonald noted the trust had outperformed its benchmark during the recent sell-off, helped by its exposure to the healthcare sector and the fact it has minimal exposure to the oil sector.
“On the weaker side some of our UK companies have underperformed a bit but they are all solid balance sheets. One of the things we do focus on when we’re investing is quality and that means the quality of the returns within the business, the quality of the balance sheet and the quality of the management.”
Macdonald also noted the trust’s dividend, which has grown for 48 consecutive years, as one of the key features investors look for.
“We have very strong reserves in the trust of 1.3 years which gives us a lot of confidence to keep that dividend growing,” she said.
“We have been sorting the portfolio to ensure expectations we have in dividends are realistic. There have been some cuts of stocks in the portfolio but overall we have got a good spread by both geography and industry.”
