Gervais Williams investor interview

Senior Executive Director, Miton Group plc

Gervais talks to piworld about his background, who influenced his investing style, the macro themes, liquidity, the outlook for the markets and how his funds are positioned.

Introduction & Gervais’ background – 00:20
Who have been the main influencers in your career – 01:55
What was the attraction of joining Miton? – 03:40
Has your investing style changed over time? – 04:32
What macro factors must investors understand? – 05:30
Macro themes – 07:22
When do you sell? – 08:23
What’s your time line when you buy into a position? – 10:54
Your stock picking strategy over time? – 11:38
Regulation and liquidity? – 12:42
Are funds moving out of small caps? – 14:27
Diversity of holdings – 17:40
The views of companies on Brexit – 20:05
Outlook for the markets – 21:41
Do you feel we’re heading for a global recession? – 23:10
How do you justify the market pull back in November 2018 – 24:18
Is quantitative tightening inevitable? – 26:14
What cash can you hold? – 27:56

Gervais Williams background

Gervais has been an equity portfolio manager since 1985. He spent five years with Throgmorton Investment Management (later part of the Framlington Group), three years with Thornton Investment Management (part of Dresdner Bank) and 17 years with Gartmore Group Ltd, where he was Head of UK Small Companies investing in UK smaller companies and Irish equities.

Gervais has extensive investment experience particularly in UK smaller companies. He is well versed in AIM listed companies and understands the forces shaping changes to the investment industry. He won Investor of the Year as awarded by Grant Thornton at their Quoted Company Awards in both 2009 and 2010. Gervais is on the EU Taskforce reviewing why the number of smaller IPOs has declined over recent decades. Gervais has published three books: ‘Slow Finance’, ‘The Future is Small’ and ‘The Retreat of Globalisation’ setting out his investment philosophy for the post credit boom world. He was awarded Fund Manager of the Year 2014 by What Investment.

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