Chillingworth cuts cash to combat inflation risk

Rathbones CIO Julian Chillingworth has been putting cash into ‘inflation-proof' areas of the market in a move to cut inflation risk in his £61m Blue Chip Income & Growth fund.

He has taken his cash weighting down from 9% to 4% in the past few weeks, buying into utilities, insurance and selected consumer defensives in the view inflation will be worse than consensus expectations. “We are adding to these stocks on the view inflation will be more problematic than the Bank of England is suggesting now,” says Chillingworth. “You need companies that are growing their top line and have decent cashflows coming through, so they can continue to pay increasing dividends ahead of inflation.” Chillingworth highlighted water utilities firms as less vulnerable to inflatio...