Ruffer Investment Company (RICA)

Ruffer Investment Company (RICA) aims to deliver positive returns in all environments, which has led it into an increasingly unconventional asset allocation to address rapidly evolving markets in which old ways of thinking no longer work. Over 2025, the trust delivered a double-digit NAV return (see Performance), generating positive returns when markets rallied as well as when they fell in the tariff tantrum following Liberation Day, when RICA really came into its own. Derivative strategies targeting equity markets, credit spreads and volatility were key to the performance in that downmarket, and remain an important component of the portfolio.

The managers, Jasmine Yeo, Ian Rees and Alexander Chartres, draw on the research of a large team of analysts and managers to implement strategic ideas, which should perform in different potential scenarios. The derivative strategies have worked well from a protective point of view, while among the growth assets allocations to cheap pharmaceutical stocks have done particularly well, as have some Chinese tech names. Higher average inflation is likely to remain a defining characteristic of the western economy for many years, in the managers’ view, and an allocation to gold mining equities has also performed well over the past year and more, bought as assets that should perform when inflation and inflationary fears are high.

RICA’s shares have traded at a modest, low-single-digit Discount to NAV since 2023, averaging 3.5% over the past year. The board has committed to meaningful buybacks, managing to keep the share price close to NAV in a period in which equities have been strong and funds with a capital preservation mandate less sought after. This means that the low volatility in the NAV has not been counteracted by discount movements, a feature we think is important for investors with a capital preservation mindset.