Record plc (LON:REC) was the topic of conversation when DirectorsTalk interviewed Gervais Williams, Co-Fund Manager of The Diverse Income Trust plc (LON:DIVI) on what’s driven the Trust’s strong performance and the outlook for a number of its portfolio holdings.
DirectorsTalk asked: Record plc has been broadening their services beyond currency management into wider investment solutions. How do you see this strategy translating into sustainable growth and returns for shareholders?
Gervais commented: They’ve got a tremendously long heritage, this company. They’ve got a very strong culture and very high levels of customer service. Many of the major Swiss banks are their customers, they’ve got a very strong Swiss business, among other things.
What’s been interesting really about the business is that currencies have moved around over the last few years. We’ve had one or two breaks with Brexit and such like, but generally currencies have been relatively benign as an area.
My own view is, as we move from globalisation into this protectionism, we’re going to get into a period where we get much higher volatility in currencies. I think the risk of currency positioning in some of the pension schemes, some of the insurance funds and such like, is going to become much more challenging going forward.
I think the services which Record offer are going to become much more valuable. So, we are tremendously upbeat because we see the world being more uncertain going forward, currencies being more uncertain, and the value added from Record being much more significant, and that’s pretty exciting as well.
