A 26-minute listen. 

Rob Burnett, founder and fund manager at boutique Lightman Investment Management, talks us through the first year of his fund, and why the time for European equities, and for value investing, is about to come. 

Rob concedes that Europe has been hit by a “double whammy” of crisis in recent years, with the continent having been very exposed to the financial crisis of 2008-09 and being hit by the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-12.

Still, he believes the region and its companies will come out of Brexit well, and are priced attractively for recovery.

With the underperformance of value investing a big topic of discussion for investors today, Rob sees two factors which he believes will help these businesses – interest rates and inflation will bottom out.

“Value is currently at a nadir because the global economy is at a standstill, and value stocks are cyclical,” he explains.

“But as we pull out of this crisis, with the policy response and the political reality of the situation, it feels to me this a time for regime change where some inflation could return, and nominal GDP could be higher, so value could perform better”.

Rob also talks why he likes financials stocks, and why he prefers a concentrated portfolio rather than a more diverse fund which would “increase workload and dilute focus”.