Terry Smith defends weakest returns since inception for Fundsmith Equity

In his annual letter to shareholders, released every January, Smith acknowledged the fund had returned 2.2% over 2018, which was the "weakest [performance] in absolute terms since inception". However, he highlighted the fund still outperformed its MSCI World benchmark, which was down 3% over the year, and that it remained the top performer in the Investment Association (IA) Global sector. The manager went on to explain that Fundsmith was in the small minority of products in the IA that produced any positive return at all last year. He said: "There are 2,592 mutual funds in the IA univ...