■ Guinness Asian Equity Income
This $20m Irish Oeic has been managed by Edmund Hariss since launch in December 2013. It is a concentrated portfolio in terms of names, with less than 40 holdings, but the top 10 account for less than one-third of total assets. This fund has delivered strong relative performance numbers since inception.
Rob Morgan, pensions and investment analyst, Charles Stanley Direct:
Category: Equity
■ MFM Slater Income
Finding a decent-performing UK equity income fund that remains of a modest enough size to explore the lower reaches of the market-cap spectrum would seem a tall order – but this is such a fund. Mark Slater has a strong stockpicking record and he and his team are building a respectable record with this fund.
■ Marlborough UK Multi-Cap Growth
This fund is run by Richard Hallett, who is a member of Giles Hargreave’s team. Investors seem to have bypassed it, preferring to buy the more well-known Special Situations for exposure to the team. Yet this sub-£100m fund has a 10-year record that merits consideration for more well-rounded UK equity exposure.
Category: Absolute Return
■ Polar Capital UK Absolute Equity
Promising young manager Guy Rushton runs this unconstrained fund. He had a stellar 2015 with several of the year’s success stories such as Betfair and JD Sports in the long book. Mr Rushton’s first thought when initiating positions is how not to lose money, and this emphasis on capital discipline is reflected in a roughly neutral beta-adjusted net exposure.
■ Smith & Williamson Enterprise
This is a straightforward UK focused long/short fund that targets 8-10 per cent per year irrespective of market conditions. The emphasis is on stockpicking rather than macroeconomic calls. Encouragingly, it held up well against volatility in December, but has so far had a trickier start to 2016.
Category: Fixed Income
■ Eden Tree Amity Sterling Bond
Chris Hiorns and Robin Hepworth use this fund’s small size to participate in parts of the fixed interest market where larger peers could not hope to build meaningful positions, including permanent interest-bearing securities and charity bonds. There are risks of illiquidity in these areas, but the vehicle has historically remained of a stable size.
■ M&G Emerging Markets Bond
Claudia Calich runs this fund following her move to M&G from Invesco Perpetual in 2013 and brings plenty of experience to an already well-resourced M&G team. I believe it is a force to be reckoned with in this specialist area, but it currently has only modest assets under management.
