Technology companies have unquestionably been the winners of the pandemic. Share prices rocketed last year as millions grew accustomed to lockdown life and relied more than ever on their products.
Funds that invest in these companies soared and the Fidelity Global Technology fund was no exception: it has returned 40pc over the past 12 months, ahead of the 36pc from a global index of tech stocks.
Hyun Ho Sohn, who has run the £8.2bn fund since 2013, is now turning his attention to life after the pandemic and the stocks poised to take off when we exit lockdown. He tells Telegraph Money why he thinks not all technology shares are expensive and why one household name should be seen as one of Britain’s tech leaders.
Who is the fund for?
The fund is for any investor looking for long-term returns from the technology sector. Technology is used in our daily lives and companies are well positioned to capitalise on that so we want to share in their growth. We invest globally and, for us, technology includes any company that drives tech innovation as well as those that can benefit from tech evolution.
Can tech companies grow as much as they did last year?
There was a lot of pent-up demand during the pandemic when people were working from home.
A lot of people bought accessories for work and for leisure at home, such as computer mice and headsets. Demand for these things will still be there in the long run, but won’t be quite as high, so growth will slow.
It will be the same for IT spending, where there will be less focus on getting things running in the short term, like when there was a huge need for Zoom or automated signing processes. Instead, companies will have to spend on modernising banking processes and migrating their data to the cloud.
