Easter Gallery Series: The Fund Managers Breathing 'new Life' Into Mandates

£670m Artemis UK Select fund

Ed Legget (pictured) took over the Artemis UK Select fund at the start of 2016 and was still repositioning it when Brexit hit, which caught him out.

Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Financial Planning, said: "Legget was attempting to sell inherited domestic positions that were being de-rated sharply but paused in the sale process.

"In hindsight, he should have bitten the bullet and sold out entirely as post the Brexit vote, many of these stocks fell off a cliff.

"However, it is more interesting what he did in the weeks that followed the referendum. He did not stick his head in the sand and blame the market. He reassessed, changed his top-down view and ditched stocks that would not work in the new environment and bought bombed out ones, while sticking to his investment philosophy.

"Since then, Ed has clawed back a large part of the losses of the first half of 2016 with steady outperformance of the FTSE All-Share."

£650m SLI UK Equity Unconstrained fund

Following Legget's departure (see previous slide), the fund returned to Wesley McCoy (pictured), who was named manager at launch.

John Husselbee, head of multi-asset at Liontrust, said: "Fund buyers have a tendency to react negatively to manager changes, often wanting to follow the departing individual to pastures new.

"Reviewing the numbers head to head since Legget’s departure puts McCoy's fund marginally behind over the past two years.

"But the more interesting story is the similarity in the pattern of their returns, with both stockpickers underperforming in 2016 and then being among the best in the peer group over the past year."

£70m Miton Global Opportunities trust

After introducing a number of changes at the end of 2015, the Miton Global Opportunities trust managed by Nick Greenwood (pictured) has seen significant progress by way of increasing demand for new shares, a rise in AUM and a narrowing discount.

The trust changed its name (from Worldwide Growth trust), moved into the AIC's Flexible Investment sector and appointed Frostrow Capital to handle distribution and marketing.

Sam Murphy, associate director of investment companies research at Numis, said: "The portfolio remains well-placed to deliver attractive returns to investors, given that many of the underlying holdings trade at significant discounts to NAV, with catalysts on the horizon to unlock value."

£93m Aurora Investment Trust (Phoenix AM)

Once dubbed the worst-performing investment trust in the UK, the Aurora trust was taken over and overhauled by Phoenix AM in 2016.

Once at the bottom of the AIC UK Growth sector and significantly underperforming its peers, it is now trading on a premium of 2.4% compared with an average discount of 9% in its sector.

Simon Elliott, head of research at Winterflood, said: "While the fund is still relatively small, it has seen considerable growth since the appointment of Phoenix. We believe it has the potential to outperform over the long term."

The trust is in Winterflood's model portfolio for 2018.

£1bn JPM Global Macro Opportunities fund

JP Morgan's Global Macro Opportunities fund has seen a significant rise in popularity over the last three years, jumping from just £10m in July 2015 to £1bn today.

This followed a period when its macro approach proved successful during a turbulent period and the fund has only grown in popularity since.

In April 2016, when more investors were starting to notice the fund and it was listed as one of Investment Week's funds to watch, Ryan Hughes, head of fund selection at AJ Bell, said: "This fund jumped into the limelight following strong performance in recent months when equity markets have been selling off sharply.

"The approach taken by the experienced team is to focus on key macroeconomic drivers and look to position the fund to profit from this while actively hedging risk to profit should markets fall."

£222m Keystone Investment Trust

Christopher Brown, head of investment companies research at JP Morgan Cazenove, highlights Invesco Perpetual's Keystone Investment Trust, which has seen performance turn around since James Goldstone (pictured) took over sole management in March 2017.

He said: "It now has a more mid and small-cap focus and its NAV has outperformed fellow Invesco Perpetual trusts Edinburgh investment trust and Perpetual Income & Growth since Goldstone took over, though its performance versus its peers has been less impressive."

£3.4bn JOHCM UK Equity Income fund

The JO Hambro UK Equity Income had a tough time relatively speaking at the back end of 2015 and the first half of 2016, but has since bounced back in part thanks to the manager rotating the portfolio into commodity and oil-related stocks.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Fund manager Clive Beagles (pictured) is a seasoned campaigner who will be accustomed to periods when things are not going his way, but nonetheless sticks to his process of picking out-of-favour companies with a decent yield that have the potential to grow, and investors have been well rewarded over the long term."

Miton Value Opportunities

The previous management team – George Godber and Georgina Hamilton – jumped ship in early 2016 prompting significant outflows at the firm.

Tom Jemmett, fund research at Brewin Dolphin, said: "While the long-term record of the team was very strong (and their new fund, Polar Capital UK Value Opportunities has also had a great first year), like other value funds, the Miton fund had endured a tough run since the latter part of 2015.

"The replacement manager Andrew Jackson (pictured), who was hired from EdenTree, has brought a slightly more pragmatic style to the fund, while still targeting companies that he believes are at an attractive discount to their intrinsic value.

"It has done incredibly well since, posting top-decile performance."

Man GLG UK Income

The fund was launched in 1999 to target a level of income above the FTSE-All Share coupled with capital growth.

Jason Hollands, managing director at Tilney, said: "At the end of November 2013, Henry Dixon (pictured) took over the management of the fund and it is now comfortably in the first quartile.

"The strategy targets companies already uncovered by the team’s undervalued assets process in addition to a focus on companies with materially stronger balance sheets where the potential for dividend growth is high.

"Interestingly, and through their entire analysis of the capital structure, bond opportunities may arise where they see attractive income complemented by capital appreciation, however exposure here will be limited.

"While the fund has had a very strong 2017, their valuation and price target discipline should mean the team can selectively 'bank' the performance in some of their more successful investments and carry on into the New Year with an attractive looking portfolio.

"Indeed, while the fund has a relatively high turnover, the fund manager has displayed a strong ability in their timing of trades."