Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies snaps up AJ Bell in search for 'oversold' bargains

NAV down 11.3% in six months to June

Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies has been using the downturn in markets to load up on contrarian bets at cheaper valuations.

One of which is online investment platform AJ Bell, which the managers added to following is 30% share price decline in the first half of 2022. "The spike in energy prices and the subsequent effect on company profitability and economic growth is likely to create ongoing headwinds across the market," portfolio managers Jonathan Brown and Robin West wrote in the trust's half-year report. "Investors often react to ‘price in' these factors well ahead of time, and this has been the case over the last six months, resulting in many businesses now trading at historically low valuations."  ...