Buckles

27th November 2008

Some 300 investors in the Snowdonia Fund,run by Rhyl-based IFA Buckles Investment Services, gathered at Venue Cymru in Llandudno last week to meet the managers of the fund

to learn how it had performed during the global financial turmoil and also to hear experts’ economic forecasts for the year ahead.

Buckles’ Investment Solutions Manager, Rick Eling, who chaired three seminars held over two days, reviewed the performance of the fund in the context of the global events and stressed the improvements in the way the fund is run. He introduced Isabel Herrera, of multi-manager specialist SMMI, who took over the management of the combined Snowdonia Balanced & Growth funds this Summer. Long term managers, David Hambidge (Income) and Alex Ross (Property) also spoke to the investors and answered their questions.

Also introduced to the investors were the distinguished City economist Roger Nightingale who joins investor representative Allan Jones on the Snowdonia Fund investment committee and the new Chairman of Buckles Holdings, Paul Bradshaw, who joined the board following the acquisition of a majority stake in the firm by Sanlam, the South Africa financial services giant.

Mr. Nightingale gave an insightful view of the economy and was particularly critical of the central banks’ handling of interest rates, notably the timing of cuts and increases. He forecast that rates would fall to close to zero in the next few months, inflation no longer being a worry. He predicted that long-dated fixed interest securities, particularly Government bonds, might halve in yield in the next two years. He thought that equities too would perform well so long as company profits hold up.

All three fund managers reflected on the very widely reported difficulties the world’s developed and emerging markets have experienced this year, one in which all indices slumped – the principal share index, the FTSE 100, by some 30% since January 2008. However, the prognosis for 2009 was much more encouraging and that there were likely to be buying opportunities next year.

Commenting on the seminars, Buckles’ Chief Executive Nigel Speirs said:

“This is the fourth year we have held these seminars. This year we have had the highest turnout of investors wishing to meet the managers, who have performed well against their peers, under atrocious market conditions. We have witnessed unprecedented events in the global economy that no one could have forecast, yet we have seen net inflows of money into the Snowdonia Fund in all but two months this year.

“The feedback from investors has been very positive and understanding and some have increased their investment on the back of the reassurance that the fund managers have given them”.