Since they took over the management of the Temple Bar Investment Trust (LSE: TMPL) in October 2020, Ian Lance and Nick Purves have generated a total return of 100% compared with 55% for the FTSE All-Share index.
This is also well ahead of global indices. When the board moved the management contract, they chose to continue the previous manager’s value strategy rather than join the then-fashionable pursuit of growth.
This has proved shrewd, not just because the UK market, in which Temple Bar is focused, is short of growth stocks, but also because the trust’s contrarian reputation was worth preserving. “We are very much contrarians,” says Lance.
