LIVES
Harrogate
FAMILY
Married with son and daughter
STARTED AT JM FINN
2008
HOBBIES
I love to be in the garden but have just taken up racketball which will help to fill the winter months – along with some skiing!
LAST HOLIDAY
Family holiday in Corfu
HEROINE
Charlotte Brontë
FAVOURITE BOOK
It’s difficult to choose between several of Dickens’ – probably, David Copperfield
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Peter Doig
What does relocating the office to York mean for you as an investment manager?
The best of both worlds! The new office is in a fantastic location in the heart of the city and includes parking for clients and staff; equally, the excellent rail links to London will keep us more closely connected to our headquarters and research resources. I'm also looking forward to developing our relationships with some of the other professional advisers in the city.
Having been at JM Finn for nearly 15 years, can you tell us what it is that makes the business tick?
The clients and the enjoyment that comes from working with our clients – knowing that we have the constant support of the firm to manage our clients’ portfolios empathetically results in us providing a distinctly personalised service, which, in my view and with conversations with some of my newer clients, helps set us apart.
With a young family, how do you manage to balance the demands of work and your home life?
It can be challenging at times. However, it comes down to domestic teamwork – very helpfully for me, my husband runs his own business and tends to be pretty flexible in terms of working pattern. But generally, this industry is a great one to be in for managing a work/life balance.
Clearly it has been a tricky year for investors, but what areas of the market are you optimistic about in the medium term?
I’m optimistic on the healthcare sector, an area that has delivered superior investment returns over the long term. It is well understood that populations globally are ageing and spending on healthcare will only continue to increase. This is a growing problem for governments but there will be investment opportunities in innovative companies that are able to deliver enhanced patient outcomes with, importantly, a clear cost benefit. Currently, valuations in the sector look attractive and a number of the investment trusts in the space are trading on discounts to net asset value, that is to say, the price of the trust is less than the sum of the underlying holdings. Meanwhile, the UK market continues to look cheap and offers some appealing dividend yields. I’m not sure what the catalyst will be for the market to re-rate, but on current valuations there does seem to be something of a margin of safety, but as ever, only time will tell.
