Henderson EuroTrust looks to gear up

10th Nov 2009 15:10

Many fund managers will have had sleepless nights during the credit crisis, not so Tim Stevenson, who has been involved in Henderson EuroTrust since its launch in 1992 and has been manager since 1994.'It has been a good year and we have come through a tough time very well indeed,' he says.Henderson EuroTrust, which invests predominantly in large and medium-sized companies perceived to be undervalued in view of their growth prospects or on account of significant changes in management or structure, saw its share price rise 35% on last touched lows of 360p at the end of last year, but is now close to last month's highs of 539p.Some of EuroTrust's competitors, however, have not been doing as well. Of about eight in the field, he assumes, 'one or two struggle a bit.'Stevenson says he is quite bullish at the moment and thinks the markets will go up in the next 1-2 years even though there could be some short-term volatility.He confides that the EuroTrust, which is currently not geared, is in negotiations over a facility, 'which should be in place by the end of our first half in 2010.''I can't name specific figure yet, but it will be more than 5%. That is the facility we are looking for.''We've been very cautious on markets, rightly so, so we have not actually been geared.'The group's cautious stance on the market is reflected in its recent figures. The second half of the year has seen net asset value recover by 6.9%, but this is some way short of the market which has, on a recent wave of optimism, surged by 18.2%.In comparison, during the first six months to the end of January, markets fell by 23.9% and the company's net asset value by 13.5%.In the twelve months to the end of July 2009 the company's net asset value total return showed a decline of 5.7% against a fall in the benchmark, the FTSE World Europe (ex UK) Total Return Index, of 10.1%. Even with over 24 years of investment management experience under his belt, Stevenson says he still gets excited about Corporate Europe.He says he has always been interested in Europe and is still surprised by what he calls the 'high level of ignorance, especially in the UK, about all things European.''European companies generally take a longer term-view than some of the Anglo Saxon companies.''One of the things that does still keep me very excited about Europe is the way that companies change their cost structures, looking at ways to improve how they operate.''These things take years to come through, but they are still happening. That's when interesting opportunities come up,' he adds.Stevenson, a 'growth at a reasonable price' investor, has also seen 'a bunch of opportunities thrown up during the recession.He names EuroTrust's position in Santander as an example. 'We were putting some positions in some really good, top quality companies, for example Santander. That was a great position for us. Santander transformed itself over the last ten years into one of the largest banks in the world.'Stevenson thinks the worst of the recession is now over, though he admits that he didn't anticipate how bad the downturn would be in the equity market.'I think there are still a lot of interesting companies out there,' he says.'I'm very pleased with how EuroTrust is going. I'm very pleased with how we are positioned at the moment. We have good exposure to some of the recovery stories which I think will come through in 2010/2011,' he said.'I'm not ruling out the potential for short-term volatility but I'm very optimistic.'