Train says people will look back on these five years as the time when the iPad gained popularity, and the exit or otherwise of Greece from the eurozone will be just a forgotten footnote.
However, he says he finds it difficult to find ways to benefit from this long-term trend as most of the best companies are listed outside the country.
“We are only at the beginning of a multi-decade boom in consumer technology. The biggest company on the planet, Apple, is rising at an annualised rate of 80 per cent, based on 40 per cent in the first half of the year.”
“It’s like the era of the railroads in the nineteenth century, and it’s difficult to find ways for a UK-focused fund to participate.”
“Within UK-quoted there are not enough credible companies for us to benefit from this theme,” he said.
The manager, whose Finsbury Growth & Income Trust has produced top quartile returns over one, three, five and 10 year periods, is unconcerned about the macro-economic environment that has led many to despair of finding growth.
He commented: “There has always been something to worry about in macro-economics, but if you look at the long run history of equities you find it is not economics that drives them but wealth creation and new technological innovation.”
He added: “In the last period of technological boom during the 40s and 50s the UK also did not participate, which is worrying.”
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over 10 yrs
Fraser Mackersie, co-manager of the £5.5m Unicorn Free Spirit fund disagrees. He told FE Trustnet that he and FE Alpha Manager John McClure have found lots of excellent British technological companies to invest in at the lower end of the market cap scale.
“You probably have more opportunities in the US, but we have no shortage of ideas in the space. We are not restricted by size, but the average market cap is £300m,” he said.
The five crown rated Unicorn Free Spirit fund has around 80 per cent invested in UK technology stocks, and has produced top quartile returns of 56.49 per cent over three years and 152.53 per cent over a decade, according to data from FE Analytics.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over 10 yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Mackersie says that although he can’t buy Apple he can buy UK-listed Arm holdings, which makes chips used in smartphones and tablets.
Mackersie says it’s the strength of the intellectual property rights that he finds crucial when buying many of these companies.“We have world leaders in some areas. Oxford Instruments is a spin-out from Oxford University and there are a few spin-outs from Cambridge University too.
“We do not really go for the consumer-facing companies. We like the idea of niche businesses which have niche markets,” he said.
The dotcom crash is always a concern for investors in technology firms, but Mackersie says the market is nothing like what it was.
“These are all proper, cash-generating profitable companies,” he finished.