‘It was clear to us in February that this was quite serious,’ James Barton tells Spear’s. ‘Ten per cent of the population was in lockdown and yet the market was at an all-time high, which seemed odd.’
While rivals’ portfolios were full of oil and travel, Featherstone focused on technology, healthcare and other companies suited to a Covid-19 society. ‘There are lots of new themes coming through, such as cloud companies, online retail, delivery companies,’ says Barton.
‘We’re not traditional income-type investors,’ he adds.
The approach is working – AuM is up 200 per cent from last year and the firm decided to stop marketing in January.