There is no obvious rationale behind the portfolio held by The Mercantile Investment Trust, the biggest such devoted entirely to UK small and midcap shares. That is, until you look more closely and realise that several of those investments are those singled out in this column over the years for reliable, solid long-term growth.
These include DS Smith, the packaging group, and Spirax-Sarco, the specialist engineer, both of which are on on the foothills of the FTSE 100 because of their market capitalisations of £4 billion and upwards.
Four others are regularly recommended here. Guy Anderson, who has been lead manager since the start of last year, likes Intermediate Capital Group not least because the market is only now getting around to appreciating the