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Welcome to The Two Johns, the investment trust podcast brought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk. Each month, John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman to discuss the big themes dominating the investment landscape and the important issues affecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the way the website's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed.
In episode 18, they examine the evolving investment case for the technology sector as markets shift from growth-led momentum to a more value-focused environment. The discussion explores why recent valuation changes may have created new opportunities in technology, particularly among smaller specialist firms, while raising questions over the long-term strategies of some of the large-cap technology companies. They also consider the role of active portfolio management, global technology exposure, and defensive positioning through commodities and energy, alongside the broader implications of inflation, geopolitical tensions, and energy security for investors navigating an uncertain economic landscape.

FGEN is a London-listed investment company managed by Foresight Group, targeting a sustainable,progressive dividend alongside long-term capital preservation. Formerly knownas JLEN Environmental Assets, the trust invests in a highly diversifiedportfolio of environmental infrastructure aligned with decarbonisation andresource efficiency. Its assets span renewable energy generation - includingwind, solar, anaerobic digestion, biomass, hydropower, and energy-from-waste -alongside battery storage, low-carbon transport and sustainable resourcemanagement such as waste, wastewater, and controlled-environment agriculture.Around 71% of the portfolio is in renewable generation, with the balance incomplementary infrastructure, making it one of the most diversified vehicles inits peer group. The strategy focuses on long-term, stable, and ofteninflation-linked cash flows, and currently supports a high, well-covereddividend, despite sector-wide valuation pressure and a wide discount to NAV.
In this interview, leadmanager Charlie Wright discusses FGEN’s evolution from a wind-and-solar focusedvehicle at IPO in 2014 to a broader environmental infrastructure platformspanning three pillars: renewable generation, other energy infrastructure, andsustainable resource management. He explains how diversification by technologyand revenue stream has helped cushion performance amid weak sentiment andregulatory uncertainty, including proposed UK changes to inflation linkage onlegacy subsidies. Wright highlights strong dividend cover of around 1.2x, lowgearing and a comparatively high discount rate as evidence of financialresilience. A key differentiator is FGEN’s trio of “growth assets” - a UKcontrolled-environment glasshouse, the CNG biomethane refuelling network, and aNorwegian land-based aquaculture facility, all of which are ramping upoperations and targeted for disposal in due course to crystallise capitalgrowth and recycle proceeds into new opportunities across the energytransition.

BIOG is a specialist, pure-play investment trust focused on achieving long-term capital growth from the global biotechnology sector. Managed by OrbiMed, one ofthe world’s leading healthcare investors, the trust combines deep scientific, clinical, and financial analysis to identify companies developing innovative new medicines. Its portfolio is deliberately biased towards emerging and mid-cap biotechnology businesses, where much of the industry’s innovation sits and where valuation inefficiencies can be most pronounced. This positioning makes the trust more volatile than large-cap healthcare funds, but it is designed to capture asymmetric upside as scientific progress translates into clinical success, acquisitions, and market recovery.
In this interview, co-manager Geoffrey Hsu explains how the trust navigates the high-risk, high-reward world of biotech investing. He outlines OrbiMed’s rigorous bottom-up process, blending detailed scientific due diligence with disciplined valuation and risk control, and discusses how the portfolio isconstructed to manage binary clinical events. The conversation explores why emerging biotech has been hit hardest by rising interest rates, why valuations now look compelling, and how improving funding conditions, M&A activity and a rich pipeline of clinical catalysts could drive recovery. Hsu also highlights key innovation trends – from oncology and rare diseases to gene, RNA, and cell therapies – and explains how global exposure, including China, positions the trust for the next phase of growth.

Welcome toThe Two Johns, the investment trust podcast brought to you by the website www.johnbaronportfolios.co.uk.Each month, John Baron joins former Investors' Chronicle editor John Hughman todiscuss the big themes dominating the investment landscape and the importantissues affecting the sector, while explaining how these are influencing the waythe website's ten live investment trust portfolios are being managed.
In episode 17, they take an in depth look at thepower of compounding, and why it remains one of the most important drivers oflong-term investment success. They explain how reinvesting dividends hashistorically generated the vast majority of stock market returns, turningsteady, patient investing into significantly stronger outcomes over time. Theyalso look at gold’s recent weakness during geopolitical tensions and why,despite short-term pressures from a stronger US dollar and regional dynamics,the broader outlook remains positive.

Launched in1891, CTY is one of the UK’s oldest and best-known investment companies, with along-standing focus on delivering a rising income alongside long-term capitalgrowth. The trust invests predominantly in UK-listed equities, although many ofits holdings generate a significant proportion of revenues overseas, and it hasthe flexibility to invest up to 20% of assets in overseas stocks. CTY isparticularly renowned for its exceptional dividend record, having increased itspayout every year for close to six decades, supported by the investment truststructure and the use of revenue reserves. The portfolio is managed with aconservative, valuation-led approach, emphasising companies with strong balancesheets, resilient cash flows and sustainable dividends. Job Curtis has managedthe trust since 1991, providing continuity of philosophy through multiplemarket cycles.
In thisinterview, Job Curtis discusses how the trust is positioned in the currentmarket environment and reflects on the experience gained from managing CTYthrough periods of inflation shocks, interest rate cycles and geopoliticaluncertainty. He explains why valuation remains the starting point for allinvestment decisions and how this discipline has shaped portfolio positioning,including a sizeable overweight to UK financials and selective exposure to realestate and other out-of-favour areas. The conversation also covers the trust’spragmatic approach to ESG, its willingness to take contrarian positions wherevaluations are compelling, and the role of revenue reserves in sustainingdividend growth. Curtis concludes by outlining the key risks and opportunitiesfacing income investors and setting out why he believes pessimism around UKequities is overstated.