SLI's Nimmo: 'At least half of AIM is made of conceptual or blue-sky investment'

From Intelligent Investors book

Oil-trader turned fund manager Harry Nimmo has made his name in smaller companies, specifically as manager of the £1.2bn SLI UK Smaller Companies fund and £237m Standard Life UK Smaller Companies trust. In an interview for Intelligent Investors, he reveals his rules for investing in the small-cap sector and challenges established investment theories.

Sitting in a caravan in the desert, Harry Nimmo (pictured) realised he needed a new career. He had spent three years surveying for the national oil company, Saudi Aramco, and had made a decent amount of money. The hours were long, 60 to 70 a week, but there was no tax and nothing to spend his generous salary on. Something was missing. "The pace of development in Saudi Arabia looked a bit unsustainable and the future Mrs Nimmo was not to be found there. I had to think of something else," he says. Nimmo had already been investing his Saudi savings in equities and, back in early 1980s...