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John Hughman
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Previously only available to subscribers of www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk, you can now listen here to the interviews we’ve conducted with leading investment trust managers, to our regular interviews in future, and to our new monthly podcast (The Two Johns) where John Baron and John Hughman will be discussing the latest investment and sector themes which influence how the website’s 10 live investment trust portfolios achieve a range of risk-adjusted strategies and income levels. The website’s members are notified whenever portfolio changes are made.

  1. FEB 13

    Invesco Bond Income Plus (BIPS)

    BIPS aims to deliver a high level of income with thepotential for capital growth from a diversified portfolio of corporate bonds. The trust primarily invests in sterling and other major-currency bonds issued by companies, combining higher-yielding credits with investment-grade holdings to balance risk and return. Its closed-ended structure allows the use of modest gearing - typically around 10–15% - to enhance income and flexibility, as well as access to less liquid opportunities such as subordinated bank and insurance debt not available to private investors. BIPS also targets a set dividend - currently 12.25p per annum, equivalent to around a 7% yield - supported by predictable coupon income from its portfolio of around 150 issuers. In this interview, manager Rhys Davies discusses how BIPSis currently positioned following the recent inflation spike and subsequent bond-market volatility. He explains the trust’s preference for corporate over government bonds, highlighting exposure to household names like Boots and Morrisons alongside smaller building societies and bank capital instruments such as Lloyds and Newcastle. He explains the trust’s cautious but opportunity-aware stance, and how a higher weighting in investment-grade debt provides ample income without taking undue risk. And he outlines the team’s bottom-up credit process, and how it has identified successful contrarian trades that have delivered capital upside.

    31 min

  2. FEB 3

    Murray International Trust (MYI)

    MYI is a diversified global equity income investmenttrust managed by abrdn’s Samantha Fitzpatrick and Martin Connaghan. With a globally unconstrained remit, the trust aims to deliver an above-average dividend yield alongside long-term real growth in both income and capital. The managers build a high-conviction portfolio of around 50 high-quality businesses from across developed and emerging markets, all expected to pay attractive, sustainable and growing dividends. While the mandate allows selective use of fixed income when valuations are especially compelling, the portfolio today is overwhelmingly equity-focused, with holdings spread across sectors such as financials, technology, consumer and industrials. The emphasis throughout is on valuation discipline, balance sheet strength and genuine underlying cash generation to ensure the dividend is covered by income earned from the underlying companies. In this interview Samantha and Martin discuss how theyhave steered the trust through a period of persistent macro uncertainty, including inflation, shifting interest-rate expectations, political tensions and volatile currencies. They explain the dual objective of delivering dependable income and attractive capital growth, and how portfolio flexibility allows them to blend higher-yielding names with lower- yielding but faster-growing businesses. The managers talk through their disciplined approach to valuation - trimming winners and adding to fundamentally sound laggards -their enduring conviction in emerging markets, and the rationale behind key positions in financials and technology. They also outline recent portfolio changes, including recycling from bonds into equities and new stock ideas, and explain why a consistent, bottom-up process remains their best defence against an unpredictable world.

    37 min

  3. JAN 28

    The Two Johns

    Welcome toThe Two Johns, the investment trust podcast brought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk. Each month,John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman to discuss thebig themes dominating the investment landscape and the important issuesaffecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the way thewebsite's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed. In episode14, they look at economic pessimism in the UK, how the UK market isoutperforming despite the gloom and why it’s disconnected from the domesticeconomy. They look at why value investing is back in favour and how historicvaluation discounts are creating real value, before putting all together toexplain how the portfolios are achieving diversification in a potentiallystagflation world.

    45 min

  4. JAN 14

    Aberdeen Asia Focus (AAS)

    Formerly Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies, AAS is an investment company focusing on high-quality small caps across Asia ex-Japan through a concentrated, high-conviction portfolio of roughly 50 names, built from deep, on-the-ground research and a quality-first philosophy. The portfolio is deliberately differentiated from its benchmark, the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index, and diversified across India, China/Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Korea, with selective use of gearing. Current positioning leans into domestic growth (notably India) while owning export winners in Taiwan/Korea, aiming to capture Asia’s structural trends while managing risk through thoughtful portfolio construction. In the interview, portfolio manager Gabriel Sacks explains the evolution of the trust's strategy, including a rebalancing of geographic exposure towards North Asia and asset-light businesses, as well as a deepened focus on the China market and a detailed investment process emphasizing quality, valuation, and active portfolio management. He outlines the portfolio's geographic allocation across India, China and Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan and Korea, driven by themes like middle-class growth, advanced manufacturing, digitalization, and green energy infrastructure. And he explains his positive long-term outlook for Asian small caps as the “growth engine of the new world,” and why exposure to domestic consumption helps buffer the ongoing impact of tariff turmoil.

    32 min

  5. JAN 4

    BlackRock American Income Trust (BRAI)

    BRAI is a systematic, active equity investment companytargeting US value stocks with the dual aim of delivering consistent returns and a 6% annual dividend yield. The trust applies four decades of BlackRock’s systematic investing expertise, combining advanced data science, AI, and portfolio construction discipline to outperform the Russell 1000 Value Index. Its structure allows for long-term capital deployment, with stringent shareholder protections including a 100% tender offer if it fails to beat its benchmark by 50bps annually over three years. Holding 150–250 stocks diversified across sectors, the trust seeks to capture inefficiencies in one of the world’s most competitive markets while managing risk and maintaining reliable income. In the interview, co-manager Muzo Kayacan explains how AI – including transformer-based large language models – is reshaping the trust's investment process, from digesting 6,500 broker notes a day in 47 languages to back testing millions of ideas in seconds. He describes the balance between automation and human insight, where machines handle data-heavy analysis while portfolio managers focus on creative and complex decision-making. The conversation explores portfolio construction, risk controls, dividend sustainability, and how systematic signals such as valuation, management quality and sentiment combine to identify underappreciated US value opportunities. Kayacan also reflects on the “second golden age for quant,” outlining how scale, innovation, and continuous discovery of new signals give BlackRock an edge in staying ahead in systematic investing.

    36 min

  6. 12/12/2025

    The Two Johns

    Welcome to The Two Johns, the investment trust podcastbrought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk. Each month, John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman to discuss the big themes dominating the investment landscape and the important issues affecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the way the website's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed. In this episode 13, the two Johns discuss the portfolios' large contrarian bet on the healthcare sector, and how the triple tailwinds of ageing populations, accelerated innovation, and greater political clarity have been overlooked by the market. They also dissect the recent Autumn budget to assess its implication for investors, and where the opportunities may lie as economic growth continues to evade the Chancellor.

    48 min

  7. 11/24/2025

    JPMorgan European Discovery Trust (JEDT)

    JEDT aims to deliver long-term capital growth by investing in high-quality smaller companies across continental Europe. Rebranded from the Small Cap Trust, its new identity reflects its focus on uncovering under-researched and overlooked businesses with strong growth potential. With a benchmark of the MSCI Europe ex-UK Small Cap Index, the trust is managed by Jon Ingram, Jules Bloch and Jack Featherby, who use a flexible, factor-driven investment process to identify opportunities across value, quality, and operational momentum. The portfolio is deliberately diversified across geographies and sectors, with a bias toward areas such as industrials, healthcare, and technology - sectors most likely to generate 'ten-bagger' returns. The trust employs gearing of up to 20% to enhance returns. In this interview we speak to portfolio manager Jack Featherby who outlines why European small caps are such a compelling hunting ground, highlighting their superior long-term performance, stronger growth rates than even the S&P 500, and current attractive valuations; he describes the process for identifying hidden gems and the trust's focus on finding companies dominating niche markets with clear growth catalysts; and he stresses the importance of direct engagement with management, which helps uncover crucial insights into business drivers.

    33 min

  8. 11/10/2025

    The Two Johns

    Welcome to The Two Johns, the investment trust podcast brought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk. Each month, John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman to discuss the big themes dominating the investment landscape and the important issues affecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the way the website's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed. In this episode, they return to the subject of gold and precious metals, and the possibility that gold could displace the dollar as the reserve asset that underpins the global financial system. They also look at the opportunities offered by the precious metal mining companies given their valuations, and gold’s role within the discipline of diversification alongside other non-correlated assets that offer a useful alternative to bonds.

    45 min
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About

Previously only available to subscribers of www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk, you can now listen here to the interviews we’ve conducted with leading investment trust managers, to our regular interviews in future, and to our new monthly podcast (The Two Johns) where John Baron and John Hughman will be discussing the latest investment and sector themes which influence how the website’s 10 live investment trust portfolios achieve a range of risk-adjusted strategies and income levels. The website’s members are notified whenever portfolio changes are made.

Information

  • Creator
    John Hughman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    85
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © John Hughman
  • Show Website
    JohnBaronPortfolios.co.uk

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