On the 30th of November 2022, the first face to face investment committee was held since lockdown. We were pleased to see over 35 students and board of advisors that attended the event.

Matteo Di Rossi CEO of LSMIF started the presentation by mentioning his future plans for the fund. He stated that in the past there has been some difficulties to manage the fund due to Covid-19, which has made the  progress of P/L slower, therefore his new plans consist of active involvement of all members, creating new roles to better manage the fund and its progression. Also mentioned there will be a democratic system in the future which will allow other members to give their feedback. Carrying on he stated the areas for improvement which he believes are critical for the growth of the fund, recruitment of members in other schools in the university to grow popularity, have a strong social media presence by being more active on all the digital platforms and by adding a key role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to the fund.

This session also included the portfolio asset allocation of the fund and which investments have been made, we had different members analysing the investments, and what shall be done for that stock. Some of the stocks that were discussed in this session were Ashtead Group Plc which accounts of 12% of the portfolio, Investec Plc which accounts of 8%, Beazley Plc which accounts of 13%.

Furthermore, we had a few words from our board of advisors. They commented on the presentation and gave a few tips for the future. David Spokes who is the Divisional director of Brewin Dolphin in Lincoln mentioned that the fund is performing well even though compared to FTSE 100 was underperformed, and the reason the he stated it was held up by energy and oil prices. However, he did comment on the fund’s cash holdings which are over 50%, he mentioned that just by being in the market is better that leaving large amounts of cash in the fund. For example, if £100 were invested in 1950 they would be equivalent to £184,000 in 2016. Mr. Howard Gannaway who is a financial expert and an advisor to LIBS viewed the large cash holdings of the fund as positive and mentioned‘Having large amount of cash implies that the fund is positive on new opportunities coming along’, also being impressed with the funds progress from where it started in 2015.

Overall, the event was a great success, everyone enjoyed the session the board of advisors were pleased with the progress made by the fund and the future plans set by the CEO. That is all for this week, make sure follow our twitter https://twitter.com/LSMIF_ , and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the progression of the fundhttps://www.getrevue.co/profile/lsmif_