Bestinvest says
Fund manager, Ben Whitmore, has done well from an approach where he does his own fundamental research to uncover companies with good quality assets and strong balance sheets, which are trading below their intrinsic value. This style has often been described as contrarian, probably because it can lead to bigger individual stock bets in "unloved" stocks than normal, which may lead to periods of weaker relative performance. So far though, over Whitmore's career, his returns have been reasonably consistent.
The objective is to achieve capital growth by exploiting special situations, principally in the UK. The fund's process has its foundation in traditional value investing, where the manager looks for companies that are intrinsically undervalued. Although a stock picking portfolio, idea generation can lead to some sector bias within the fund. Typically the manager will also screen for a low valuation relative to longer term earnings to smooth out the effects of the business cycle. He will also look for companies which offer a combination of low valuation and high return on assets.
This is a low turnover portfolio, where the manager can be expected to run his winners and allow stock ideas which are not working to fall as a percentage of the fund's overall assets.