Sponsors

AJ Bell is one of the UK’s largest providers of online investment platforms and stockbroker services. With more than 432,000 customers and assets under administration exceeding £68.7 billion, we succeed by providing award-winning investment products, backed up with excellent service and online functionality at a low cost.

Asset Value Investors has been investing in Japan for three decades. AVI focuses on undervalued companies with resilient and growing earnings, that are overlooked by investors due to non-fundamental factors.

By utilising 30 years of capital markets experience, having analysed and met with 100s of Japanese companies across a wide variety of industries, AVI works with management teams, making suggestions on how to grow long-term corporate value and address share price undervaluation.

Our four main areas of improvement: capital efficiency, ESG, investor communication and operational strategy.

DWS Group (DWS) is one of the world's leading asset managers with EUR 902bn of assets under management (as of 31 March 2022). Building on more than 60 years of experience, it has a reputation for excellence in Germany, Europe, the Americas and Asia. DWS is recognized by clients globally as a trusted source for integrated investment solutions, stability and innovation across a full spectrum of investment disciplines.

We offer individuals and institutions access to our strong investment capabilities across all major liquid and illiquid asset classes as well as solutions aligned to growth trends. Our diverse expertise in Active, Passive and Alternatives asset management each other when creating targeted solutions for our clients. Our expertise and on-the-ground knowledge of our economists, research analysts and investment professionals are brought together in one consistent global CIO View, giving strategic guidance to our investment approach. 

We have a strong heritage of successfully connecting our clients to global investment opportunities. Our proven expertise in connecting the developed and developing world allows us to unlock sustainable investment opportunities for investors in all regions. Through a long-term commitment to our clients and a structured and disciplined investment approach, we deliver solutions to support their financial ambitions.

As of end of December 2021, we managed USD640 billion globally for a range of clients, from some of the largest institutional investors in the world to commercial and corporate clients, financial intermediaries, retail and private banking clients.

International Biotechnology Trust plc offers investors access to the fast-growing biotechnology sector through an actively managed, diversified fund. Our award-winning Investment Managers at SV Health Managers LLP are scientifically, medically and financially experienced with over 75 years of experience between them. As well as investing in a wide-ranging portfolio of global quoted biotechnology stocks, we include a small proportion of otherwise inaccessible carefully selected unquoted investments mostly via investments in venture funds which have the potential to deliver additional returns over the long-term. Excellent management teams, unique innovative products and strong potential for outperformance are the key criteria for inclusion in our diversified portfolio of assets. Our investors also receive an annual dividend equivalent to 4% of NAV in two instalments.

Over the years, Invesco has grown to become one of the largest investment managers in the UK¹, currently managing over $1.5 trillion in assets².

Key to our success has been a relentless commitment to investment excellence. With clients sitting at the heart of the business, our capabilities have expanded to encompass a variety of investment styles, asset classes, geographies and products to meet a wide range of investment goals and the changing needs of investors.

We have significant depth in resources, with more than 8,000 investment professional employees worldwide all focused on delivering the best outcomes for our clients.

Capital at risk.

¹ Retail funds under management. The Investment Association, as at February 2022.
² As at 30 June 2022.

Ninety One is an active, global investment manager managing £134.9 billion in assets (as at 30.06.22). Our goal is to provide long-term investment returns for our clients while making a positive difference to people and the planet.

Established in South Africa in 1991, as Investec Asset Management, the firm began as a small start-up offering domestic investments in an emerging market. In 2020, as a global firm proud of our emerging market roots, we demerged to become Ninety One.

We are committed to developing specialist investment teams organically. Our heritage and approach let us bring a different perspective to active and sustainable investing across equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives to our clients - institutions, advisors and individual investors around the world.

Investment involves risk; losses may be made.

Pictet Asset Management is an independent asset manager, overseeing over GBP 183 billion as at 30 June 2022 for our clients across a range of equity, fixed income, alternative and multi asset products. We provide specialist investment services through segregated accounts and investment funds to some of the world’s largest pension funds, financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, intermediaries and their clients.

Our business is investment led and centered around a long-term perspective with a dedication to client service. Our aim is to be the investment partner of choice to our clients. This means giving them our undivided attention, offering pioneering strategies and being committed to excellence.

Our range of investment capabilities is pioneering and differentiated. We don’t do everything, rather we focus on the areas where we can add value for our clients. Our strategic capabilities are thematics, absolute return, emerging markets and multi asset.

For over 130 years Law Debenture has created value by consistent outperformance. Its unique combination of an equity portfolio and global professional services business offers a significant competitive advantage and has supported Law Debenture’s 43-year track record of increasing or maintaining dividends. As one of the largest UK income investment trusts it has delivered an 180.8% share price total return in the last ten years, outperformed the FTSE All Share Index by 598% in the last 25 years and offers best in class dividend growth with a high-quality diversified portfolio.

UBS Asset management is the 4th largest provider of ETFs in Europe with AUMs of GBP 72.9bn and has seen inflows YTD of GBP 3.7bn as of end-April 2022. In addition to their strength in their range of core exposures in Equities and Fixed Income, UBS is one of the largest providers of Socially Responsible Investing ETFs as well as the largest in Currency Hedged ETFs in Europe. Further, the UBS CMCI Composite UCITS ETF is the largest broad commodities ETF in the region with AUMs of GBP 2.4bn. In addition to numerous listings across exchanges in Europe, UBS has 108 ETF listings on the LSE.

Since its foundation in 1955, VanEck has been driven by innovation and stands for intelligently designed, forward-looking investment strategies. As of July 31, 2022, VanEck managed approximately USD 45 billion in assets, including ETFs, mutual funds and institutional accounts.

With more than 90 ETFs globally, the asset manager offers a comprehensive portfolio covering numerous sectors, asset classes and smart beta strategies. VanEck was one of the first asset managers to offer investors access to international markets. The objective has always been to identify new trends and asset classes – such as Gold Investments (1968), Emerging Markets (1993) and ETFs (2006), which have shaped the investment industry to this day.

VanEck is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Frankfurt (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Sydney (Australia) and Shanghai (China). 

Winterflood Securities, part of Close Brothers Group, is a market maker, providing access to securities and a range of related services. The firm is a specialist in execution services and is dedicated to providing liquidity in all market conditions, to a diverse client network including institutional investors, retail brokers and asset managers. These clients benefit from cost effective, flexible execution services from pre-trade through to settlement.

Winterflood Investment Trusts is a full-service listed funds team, covering the UK listed closed-ended funds sector and with the strength and depth to provide trading, sales, research and corporate advice. The team is well-resourced and has many years of experience of the sector.