Ruffer’s chief investment officer Henry Maxey has splurged £5.4m on shares in the struggling flagship Ruffer Investment Company (RICA ), which last year suffered its worst performance since launch in 2004.

Making his first purchase in the £1bn wealth preservation fund, Maxey (pictured) bought the shares at 265.36p, a 5% discount to their 280p net asset valu. His 0.52% stake makes him the eighth-largest shareholder behind the Ruffer LLP partnership structure, according to Refinitiv data.

The investment company was not required to disclose this purchase, but its board deemed it to be of interest to shareholders and in keeping with previous announcements.

The move reflects management’s alignment with shareholders, RICA’s portfolio manager Duncan MacInnes said in a statement.

‘We eat our own cooking at Ruffer. Whether through personal investments, the partnership structure or the firmwide focus on a single strategy – our interests are fully aligned with our clients. The current gap between perception and reality in markets is as wide as we have seen it. The opportunity set is huge and the portfolio is uniquely well positioned to take advantage.’  

The shares dipped 0.6%, or 1.6p, to 265p.

Ruffer LLP, the partnership structure, already has a 0.8% stake in the investment company totalling £2.9m, while the fund manager’s founder Jonathan Ruffer, has a 0.13% interest.

Maxey’s move followed disappointing half-year results this month which highlighted RICA’s first share buyback programme as the board seeks to narrow the share’ discount and improve shareholder returns. 

So far this year the board has spent £24.5m buying back stock this year, having kicked off the buybacks with a £395,000 repurchase in August, stock exchange notices show.

Chair Christopher Russell has hinted at more drastic action, such as a tender offer, as the company looks to catch up with rivals, RIT Capital Partners (RCP ), Personal Assets (PNL ) and Capital Gearing (CGT ).

Elevated inflation

In an update last week, MacInnes and co-manager Jasmine Yeo said Chinese equities had been a key driver of performance in February following an announcement by the Chinese securities regulator at the end of January banning stock lending.

The portfolio’s long-dated UK inflation-linked bonds were a positive contributor as they recovered from a January selloff, despite falling hopes of interest rate cuts in 2024 driving up bond yields, hurting the fund’s exposure to gold mining equities and the Japanese yen.

The pair reasserted their conviction that inflation will remain elevated as governments look to manage their deficits, which they are exposed to through gold, inflation-linked bonds and commodities.  

Year to date, the underlying value of the multi-asset portfolio has softened 0.2% and the shares have dropped 2.4% while the FTSE All-Share benchmark index has gained 0.7%, according to data from Deutsche Numis. Last year saw the underlying NAV fall 6.2% and shares drop 10.6%. Over five years, shareholder returns of 34% beat the index by 7%.