Terry Smith has added Amazon to the Fundsmith Equity fund despite criticising the company earlier this year.
“During the month, we sold our holding in InterContinental Hotels Group, completed the purchase of a position in Amazon and began buying a new position for the fund, the name of which will be revealed when we have accumulated our desired weighting,” said the Fundsmith Equity fund’s October factsheet.
The factsheet for the sustainable sister fund is yet to be released.
The new addition to the £27.4bn fund comes despite the fact Smith has this year been critical of the tech stock. “If Mr Bezos were to float off Amazon Web Services, we would be very interested, it would be a really good business,” he said at the firm’s annual shareholders’ meeting in February. “But we don’t particularly like the idea of owning one business that is cross-subsidising a barely profitable business.”
Fundsmith did not wish to comment on Smith’s change of view on the stock when approached by Portfolio Adviser.
In August, regulatory filings revealed Amazon was the largest US holding in Smith’s personal long/short fund.
Fundsmith would not comment on the timing during which both funds began initiating their positions in Amazon. In the July factsheet, Smith revealed he had begun buying a new position for the fund but said he would not identify the company until “we have accumulated our desired weighting”.
Despite being known for his buy and hold approach, Smith has made a number of chops and changes to Fundsmith Equity this year. Longstanding holdings Intertek and Sage were given the boot, and last month he sold Becton Dickinson, one of the fund’s original top 10 holdings when it debuted in 2010. He purchased Church & Dwight, owner of consumer brands such as Trojan and Oxiclean, in February.
See also: Nick Train rues not holding big tech but is not about to change his mind
