FUNDSMITH Annual Shareholders' Meeting February 2026

Video Description

- FUNDSMITH Annual Shareholders' Meeting February 2026. Ian King introduces the 2026 Fundsmith Annual Shareholders' Meeting at Central Hall Westminster. Terry Smith and Julian Robins present the results from the year and answer shareholders' questions. Chapters. 00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction from Ian King. 00:01:50 Fund Performance 00:22:55 Investment Strategy Q&A With Terry Smith & Julian Robins 00:33:47 Question One Terry Smith says in his letter that the major seven tech companies are not all good companies 'of the sort we seek to invest in'. Could you explain the thinking behind this view? - Colin Simpson 00:38:48 Question Two Is the 'Attention Economy' a fundamental shift in how we define value—prioritizing liquidity and reach over cash flow—or is it just a modern justification for a classic bubble? - Christion Crowson 00:42:50 Question Three With $500 billion sunk into AI and profitability still theoretical, is this the largest speculative craze in history? Specifically, at what point does the declining ROCE and margin pressure from this 'AI arms race' disqualify even the tech giants from your 'high-return' investible universe? - Graham Heddle and Harmeet Chadha 00:51:45 Question Four When people withdraw money from the fund how do you decide what companies to sell? - David Cox 00:53:26 Question Five Microsoft has recently dropped out of the fund's Top 10 holdings. Can you confirm if this position was reduced due to concerns over rising AI CapEx and its impact on free cash flow? If so, what was the scale of the reduction? - Stephen Hall and Marc Weisberger 00:58:25 Question Six Is the most difficult part of underperforming a benchmark the psychological pressure of doing something different to catch up? - Augusto Ramos 01:02:08 Question Seven In your 2026 letter, you warned that index funds are paving the way for a 'major investment disaster.' Beyond patient holding, what specific indicators would signal that this 'irrational regime' is finally breaking? Furthermore, if we see a prolonged exodus from passive funds, how is the portfolio positioned to capitalize on that reversal rather than just weathering the storm? - Diego Scur and Pat Shroff 01:08:29 Question Eight With the dollar falling likely to continue, does it make sense to be so overweight dollar equities? - Howard Rosen Is de-dollarisation occurring and if so how would this impact the fund? - Brendan Andrews 01:16:37 Question Nine The "doing nothing" part is my concern. I think a lot could have been improved on in the last few years as the Fundsmith price indicates. Of course if and when the crash comes it might be a pretty solid bet but till then? - Michael Young 01:20:21 Question Ten Of the companies in the current Fundsmith portfolio, which company’s CEO do you admire the most? - Peter Harris 01:25:11 Question Eleven On behalf of my grandson - Dear Terry, Like you I am a long term investor. I was born on 9th July 2025 and been an investor in Fundsmith most of my life. My parents named me 'Otis' partly in the hope I will go up in the world! Otis is also, at the time of writing, a fund holding. If you were to name a child after one of your holdings, which would it be and why? Kind regards Otis Sample - Mark Atkinson