The events of 2020 were truly unprecedented – from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Q1, precipitating one of the sharpest economic and market collapses of all time, to the UK’s 11th hour ‘no tariffs, no quotas’ Brexit trade deal in late December.

Despite the unrelenting turmoil, The Bankers Investment Trust has continued to deliver for shareholders: outperforming its benchmark on a total return basis and maintaining its unbroken record of dividend increases for a 54th consecutive year.

Janus Henderson Investment Trusts is delighted to welcome Alex Crooke, Portfolio Manager of The Bankers Investment Trust, to Trust TV.

Watch Alex in the Trust TV studio as he looks back on an extraordinary year for global markets and discusses the particular challenges he faced. Alex will also outline his views on the optimal global asset allocation, the outlook for dividends in 2021 and beyond, his approach to stock-picking, sector winners and losers post-COVID, and other themes relevant to the global equity investor.

Glossary

Asset allocation Expand

The allocation of a portfolio according to an asset class, sector, geographical region, or type of security.

CapEx Expand

Capital expenditure or capital expense is the money an organisation or corporate entity spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land.

Commodity Expand

A physical good such as oil, gold or wheat. The sale and purchase of commodities in financial markets is usually carried out through futures contracts.

Compounding Expand The process in which an asset’s earnings, from either capital gains or interest, are reinvested to generate additional earnings over time. This growth, calculated using exponential functions, occurs because the investment will generate earnings from both its initial principal and the accumulated earnings from preceding periods. Compounding, therefore, differs from linear growth,
where only the principal earns interest each period. Cyclical Expand A cyclical stock is a stock that’s price is affected by macroeconomic or systematic changes in the overall economy. Cyclical stocks are known for following the cycles of an economy through expansion, peak, recession, and recovery. Most cyclical stocks involve companies that sell consumer discretionary items that consumers buy more during a booming economy but spend less
on during a recession. Dividend Expand

A payment made by a company to its shareholders. The amount is variable, and is paid as a portion of the company’s profits.

Fiscal Stimulus Expand Action by the government to encourage the private sector economic activity by engaging in targeted, expansionary monetary
or economic policies. An economic stimulus is commonly employed during times of recession. Policy tools often used to implement economic stimulus include lowering interest rates, increasing government spending, and quantitative easing. Large capitalisation stocks (large caps) Expand

Larger companies as defined by market capitalisation total market value of a company (calculated by multiplying the number of shares in issue by the current price of the shares) tend to be easily bought or sold in the market (highly liquid).

Market capitalisation Expand

The total market value of a company’s issued shares. It is calculated by multiplying the number of shares in issue by the current price of the shares. The figure is used to determine a company’s size, and is often abbreviated to ‘market cap’.

Monetary policy Expand

The policies of a central bank, aimed at influencing the level of inflation and growth in an economy. It includes controlling interest rates and the supply of money. Monetary stimulus refers to a central bank increasing the supply of money and lowering borrowing costs. Monetary tightening refers to central bank activity aimed at curbing inflation and slowing down growth in the economy by raising interest rates and reducing the supply of money.

Yield Expand

The level of income on a security, typically expressed as a percentage rate. For equities, a common measure is the dividend yield, which divides recent dividend payments for each share by the share price. For a bond, this is calculated as the coupon payment divided by the current bond price.