We found an office which meets this criteria and an office refit is currently being undertaken to give us tailor-made space for our purposes.

We will move, on Monday 23^rd April 2012, to our new offices at Edinburgh Quay, a 10 minute walk from Haymarket station. The local area has developed into Edinburgh’s bustling business district, but our office on the bank of the Union Canal will be an oasis for our clients.

We look forward to many years of continued success at our new home. In the meantime, the address of our new office is:

Our rationale is simple; despite there being over 3,000 investment funds in the UK which we could choose from, we feel that there are only a handful which are worthy of selection. This reflects poorly on the fund management industry and helps to explain why fans of tracker funds state, correctly, that most managers fail to deliver sustained outperformance.

Although small in number (currently 64), our panel funds are, we believe, amongst the very best investment opportunities.

As a matter of course, we do not add a fund to our panel until we have met with the manager/s of the fund and taken great lengths to understand their capabilities, process and experience. Ongoing meetings are also crucial to ensure that the mandate remains unchanged and that the fund is worthy of continued investment.

We had one such meeting this week with Neil Woodford, manager of the successful Invesco Perpetual Income and High Income funds and co-manager of their Distribution and Monthly Income Plus funds. All four funds are approved for our panel and, as such, these will be very familiar names to many of our clients.

Neil’s past performance has been outstanding. As an independent and careful thinker, he has delivered returns which have rewarded his investors handsomely. The following chart illustrates how £10,000 invested on 1^st January 2000 would have performed to date. Neil’s Income and High Income funds would now be worth £30,751 and £30,226 respectively. In contrast, the FTSE All Share index would have returned £14,028, which is a little less than the £14,124 which would have been delivered by the average 90 day notice cash account (according to MoneyFacts).

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns, of course. However, given Neil’s track record and stock-picking talent, he is a key figure within the industry and our conviction remains high. His flagship Income funds were the two top performing UK Equity Income funds in 2011 proving that those who occasionally write him off do so at their peril.

His current views are illuminating as, although he remains very pessimistic on the economies of the western world, he sees profound value in the shares of companies he chooses to invest in within his funds. These companies could be described as being blue chip defensives, with strong balance sheets and a track record of paying dividends to investors. A particular sector where Neil sees strong value now is Pharmaceuticals whilst he remains very negative on mid-term prospects for the Banking sector.

We are pleased to note that Neil remains an activist investor who engages with company management to improve returns for shareholders rather than accepting poor results. This is an approach which we like our panel managers to take as it enhances the prospects for their funds, although very few within the wider fund management industry do this hard work. We are also pleased to note that Neil has lost none of his passion for what he does and remains committed to achieving risk adjusted, market beating returns for our clients.

In summary, Neil and his peers within our panel remain the best stewards of our client assets. Our objective is to continue to seek out the very best talent in investment management and secure long term investment growth for our clients. If you would like to learn more about the work we do to select and monitor our panel, please contact us.

The Small Firm of the Year category is open to firms with fewer than five advisers. Recent figures show that there are over 20,000 small advisory firms throughout the UK, so we were delighted to make the final shortlist of only five firms. Unfortunately, we did not collect the award on this occasion, but our congratulations go to all of the winners from the night.

Representing the team at the Grosvenor House Hotel

The Small Firm of the Year category being announced. 

The award ceremony was held in the Members’ Dining Room at the House of Commons.

Margaret accepts the award from Lord Hunt of Wirral

Margaret & Malcolm with the award in Westminster Hall

Our first day back in the office following the ceremony was spent hosting our bi-annual strategy day where further improvements to our service and processes were planned. This will drive developments which will benefit our clients and, hopefully, help us to retain The Gold Standard for Independent Financial Advice in 2012!

Our experience told us that companies would seek to utilise this cash by investing in further research & development, paying increased dividends or undertaking share buy-backs. We have not had to wait long for a very dramatic example.

Walt Disney Company is a name that will be well known to readers. Their iconic cartoon characters are recognised in all corners of the globe. They also own the ESPN Sports Network, ABC Television Network and several theme parks, of course. In the investment world, they are widely regarded as both a cautiously managed business and one which rewards its shareholders (with a track-record of having now increased their dividend for 56 consecutive years).

It was their most recent dividend announcement, made last week, which raised eyebrows. The “experts” were predicting that the dividend would increase from 40c to 45c. However, following a record year for both turnover and profit, Disney’s management actually announced a 60c dividend. This 50% increase was the largest dividend rise in over 20 years for the company. Not only that, but the company have also commenced a $5 billion stock repurchase programme which will further benefit shareholders.

We have talked before about the media’s obsession with bad news and we do wonder whether Disney’s incredible success, and the reward for their shareholders, has merited any inches in the financial sections of our broadsheets?

This is not a stock recommendation, we are not stockbrokers and we do not proclaim to know which companies will perform better than others in the future – even those that do get it spectacularly wrong (80% of analysts rated Thomas Cook a “buy” or “hold” in the days before their share price fell 75%). In any case, direct equity ownership brings too much risk for most of our clients. However, this latest Disney fairy tale does illustrate a couple of points:

• Some companies are in the best shape of their lives
• There is good news out there – it just doesn’t get reported often

So what of Disney’s share price following their record year and generous announcement for shareholders? On Friday their stock was still down 4% year to date. For exponents of Ben Graham and Warren Buffet, we can conclude that “Mr Market” is feeling irrational again and for long-term, patient investors, this is good news.

The award is being presented to Margaret Mearns and Malcolm Steel on 23rd November 2011 by Lord Hunt of Wirral at a prestigious ceremony at the House of Commons. Watch this space for photos from the event shortly!

The award is regarded by many as being the toughest in the industry to achieve. This year we supplied the judging panel with a 343 page submission and supporting evidence. Although 60 companies applied for the Gold Standard in 2011 only 9 attained the Gold Standard for Independent Financial Advice.

We seek to continually improve our service for the benefit of our clients. Therefore it is particularly pleasing to hear the judges comments and be recognised again as one of the leading financial planning companies in the UK.

• Which sectors do we think will suffer most in the next two years?
• How can investors shelter their portfolios from the downturn?
• How concerned are investors at present about what is happening in the world?

Clearly the writer had an agenda as, after all, it is bad news which sells papers. However, the article, once written, will no doubt be a troubling read for some.

There is no question that recent headlines are concerning. The level of Sovereign debt held by many Western countries is an issue which must be addressed. Global confidence and growth is slowing. Meanwhile, however, we should not lose sight of the glimmers of light amidst the gloom.

The most positive factor, we believe, is the strength of corporate balance sheets which contrasts sharply with the situation in 2007-09. Latest figures show that in the US there is now $8.1 trillion held in bank accounts and a large part of this is corporate cash (Apple alone are now holding more cash on their balance sheet than the US Treasury). When many businesses are in better health than the major Western Governments, does it really make sense to sell the stock of these companies and invest the proceeds in Government Gilts and Treasuries?

It is also worth considering that these companies will inevitably start to spend this money. Partly because they are receiving a negative real return on their capital and partly due to shareholder pressure to do so. Businesses have a range of options for allocating this capital; investing in further research & development, paying increased dividends or undertaking share buy-backs. All of which are generally positive for share prices. Furthermore, whilst equity valuations are depressed, we would expect merger & acquisition activity to increase which, again, could act as an upward pressure on share prices.

We accept that increased volatility is here to stay and these are uncertain times. However, our clients should take comfort from the knowledge that our investment research is both diligent and relentless. The panel managers with whom you are invested are, we believe, amongst the finest asset managers and our preference is always for those managers who focus on downside protection before seeking gains. You are well placed to weather these storms, therefore.

However, should you wish to discuss your portfolio, the economic situation or the longer-term outlook, please do not hesitate to contact us.