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Who is the most successful investment manager in Britain? Arguments could rage forever, but no professional would dispute that Anthony Bolton of Fidelity is among the very best. £1,000 invested in his Special Situations fund at its launch in 1979 was worth more than £125,000 twenty seven years later. No other mainstream UK fund manager has put together such a consistently impressive performance over such a long period.
The 125-fold increase represents an average compound growth rate of more than 20% per annum, or 7% per annum greater than the FTSE All-Share Index over the same period. This track record of sustained outperformance stands comparison with that of the greatest American investment superstars such as Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. For many years, until the fund was voluntarily split in 2006, Fidelity Special Situations was easily the largest and most popular fund in the UK.
What are the secrets of Anthony Bolton's success? This important book, now fully revised and updated, takes an in-depth look at the way that Bolton goes about his business and analyses in detail the fund's outstanding performance. Anthony Bolton gives his own personal account of the history of the fund, explains why he believes his contrarian stockpicking methods have worked so well for so long and summarises the lessons he has learnt from his long and succesful career. This book is required reading for anyone with a personal or professional interest in investment.
- Fully revised and updated second edition with 25 pages of new material and graphics.
- The only full-length book to analyse in detail the strategies and techniques used by the UK's number one professional investor.
- Detailed analysis of the performance of his funds and the lessons that investors can draw from its exceptional track record.
- Written jointly by Anthony Bolton and one of the UK's best known financial authors, a leading authority on the fund management business.
Who is the most successful investment manager in Britain? Arguments could rage forever, but no professional would dispute that Anthony Bolton of Fidelity is among the very best. £1,000 invested in his Special Situations fund at its launch in 1979 was worth more than £125,000 twenty seven years later. No other mainstream UK fund manager has put together such a consistently impressive performance over such a long period.
The 125-fold increase represents an average compound growth rate of more than 20% per annum, or 7% per annum greater than the FTSE All-Share Index over the same period. This track record of sustained outperformance stands comparison with that of the greatest American investment superstars such as Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. For many years, until the fund w...
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CHAPTER ONE
Daring to be different:
Three decades as a contrarian investor
By Anthony Bolton
How it all began
The Fidelity experience
The Special Situations fund
Ignoring the benchmark
Drama in the markets
The internet bubble
The changing investment scene
Broking and research
The secret of picking stocks
The size of the fund and its performance
The corporate governance front
...
CHAPTER ONE
Daring to be different:
Three decades as a contrarian investor
By Anthony Bolton
How it all began
The Fidelity experience
The Special Situations fund
Ignoring the benchmark
Drama in the markets
The internet bubble
The changing investment scene
Broking and research
The secret of picking stocks
The size of the fund and its performance
The corporate governance front
Good and bad performance
Largest holdings
Something new: China
Splitting the Special Situations fund
Introducing Jorma Korhonen
The future
CHAPTER TWO
The professional's professional:
The man and his funds
By Jonathan Davis
An orderly mind
Devoted to detail
A chance beginning
Developing a style
Starting out at Fidelity
One simple insight
The shares he likes
Casting the net wide
Prospering in Europe
Looking beyond the UK
Where the ideas come from
Using technical analysis
Coping with setbacks
The bull market and beyond
Into the limelight: the ITV saga
The battle intensifies
Entering the home straight
CHAPTER THREE
Assessing Anthony Bolton?s performance: How good has it been: and why?
By Jonathan Davis
Performance analysis and context
Fidelity Special Situations
Performance over different periods
Risk analysis
Style analysis
Performance of the European fund
Summary and conclusions
Interpreting the performance
How others see it
The qualities great investors need
The scale of the achievement
The importance of being a contrarian
CHAPTER FOUR
Implications for investors
(1) The lessons I have learnt
By Anthony Bolton
(2) Finding the next Bolton
By Jonathan Davis
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1.
Fidelity Special Situations: performance record
APPENDIX 2.
How fund analysts see Anthony Bolton
(a) analysis by Alastair MacDougall, Head of Research,
WM Company
(b) Analysis by Lee Gardhouse, Fund of funds manager, Hargreaves Lansdown
(c) Analyst report on Fidelity Special Values, Close Winterflood Securities (September 2004)
(d) Standard & Poor's ratings report on Fidelity Special Situations (October 2004)
APPENDIX 3.
Anthony Bolton's 10 largest holdings on an annual basis
APPENDIX 4.
Fidelity?s relationship with companies it invests in
APPENDIX 5.
An example of Fidelity's in-house research: William Hill (spring 2003)
APPENDIX 6.
Slides from Fidelity Special Values presentation: July 2006
APPENDIX 7.
A lifetime of music: the eight records that Anthony Bolton would take to a desert island
APPENDIX 8.
Pages from the first Fidelity Special Situations report to unitholders (October 1980)
Author's acknowledgements
Index
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Anthony Bolton left Cambridge University with a degree in engineering to start a career in the City. In 1979, aged 29, he was recruited by Fidelity, the international fund management group, as one of its first London-based investment managers, a move that proved to be the launch of a long and successful career as an investment manager. In surveys of professional investors, he is regularly voted the fund manager most respected by his peers. He still works with Fidelity, and enjoys spending his spare time on his charitable interests and composing classical music. Anthony Bolton is married with t...
Anthony Bolton left Cambridge University with a degree in engineering to start a career in the City. In 1979, aged 29, he was recruited by Fidelity, the international fund management group, as one of its first London-based investment managers, a move that proved to be the launch of a long and successful career as an investment manager. In surveys of professional investors, he is regularly voted the fund manager most respected by his peers. He still works with Fidelity, and enjoys spending his spare time on his charitable interests and composing classical music. Anthony Bolton is married with three children and lives in Sussex.
Contact the Author
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