Fundsmith Equity fund sells long-term holdings in Diageo and Apple in 2024

Stake in McCormick also sold

Fundsmith Equity fund has sold out of its stakes in Diageo, McCormick and Apple, amid disappointment with the companies’ growth, transparency and slow response to rising input costs.

In the fifteenth annual letter to his clients, Terry Smith, the manager of the £22.7bn Fundsmith Equity strategy, said the fund disposed of its holdings in Diageo, "which we had owned since inception". This came following "problems with [Diageo's] new management, shown by a lack of information about its Latin American business", Smith said, which resulted in poorer performance compared to the sector in this area. Fundsmith's profit decline forces Terry Smith to take second pay cut "Moreover, we suspect the entire drinks sector is in the early stages of being impacted negatively by ...