Kernow Up 7% In January 2026; Opens New Short As “Frog Boiling Accounting Discovered”

Kernow Asset Management's commentary for the month ended January 31, 2026.

In January, the strategy returned 6.6% as the UK's hidden-quality stocks continued to deliver.

Thankfully, this ignored a speculative metals frenzy that made Bitcoin look boring.

In all seriousness, half of our short watch list is now commodity-based. It has grown sharply over the past six months, and the sector is flashing red in our Kernow index as overvalued, even after last week's declines. We're turning our attention to the unprofitable mines run by the more colourful management teams.

I'm An ITV Investor...Get Me Out Of Here!

All national broadcasters need relevance in a market where consolidation is survival, not ambition. The real competition here is ANDY. He watches Amazon, Netflix, Disney, and YouTube. He has no interest in UK broadcasting tradition.

Our ITV trade has been crying wolf for so long. Meekly, we apologise that we have made no money here in two years. We think the CEO is now shopping her legacy, which gives us more hope than ever that the time has finally come to unlock the substantial value for shareholders.

Elsewhere in the sector, to the establishment's credit, the BBC has now decided YouTube is a thing and will start posting its content there. Why does this matter to ITV, you ask? It signals a shift from airwaves to eyeballs. Regulators have also aligned with the view that attention is the real battleground for competition.

This dramatically improves the chances of a Sky/ITV deal or counterbid getting past the Competition and Markets Authority.