International Women's Day: Seven UK Fund Managers To Watch

To celebrate International Women's Day, Chelsea Financial Services and FundCalibre hosted seven women in fund management, representing a range of asset classes to discuss their funds and their investment approach.

Here, Darius McDermott, managing director, takes a look at each manager and their funds.

Sue Round, EdenTree Amity UK

The UK's longest-serving retail socially responsible investment fund manager, Round launched the Amity UK fund in 1988 after initially joining EdenTree in 1984.

Chelsea Financial Services managing director Darius McDermott said: "Sue looks for UK companies that are undervalued and out-of-favour and, while the fund is multi-cap, she does have bias towards small and mid-caps, which make up the majority of the some 130 stocks the fund holds.”

The fund has returned 4.1%, 15.8% and 46.7% over a one-, three- and five year-basis (to 6 March) respectively, according to FE. The IA UK All Companies sector has averaged returns of 4.5%, 18.6% and 45.1% over the same period.

Ainslie McLennan, Henderson UK Property PAIF

McLennan joined Henderson in 2002 to run commercial property fund mandates, investing both directly and indirectly in UK and European markets.

McDermott said: "This fund provides core exposure to the UK commercial property market and invests in physical property.

"The managers focus on finding high quality tenants and securing long leases and this strategy has resulted in the fund having one of the highest occupancy rates in the sector and a yield that is consistently higher than most of its peers (currently 3%)."

The fund is up 4.9%, 8.7% and 12.5% over a six-month, one-year and three-year basis. The IA Property sector has returned -1.4%, 0.9% and 13.5% over the same period.

Lesley Dunn, Baillie Gifford Corporate Bond

Lesley Dunn, who previously spent 15 years working for Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, was appointed co-manager on the Baillie Gifford Corporate Bond fund in 2016.

McDermott said: "This fund gives access to a concentrated portfolio of primarily UK fixed income securities, from both investment grade and high yield segments of the market.

"Unlike other funds in the strategic bond sector, the managers aim to add value almost exclusively through their stock-picking prowess and do not aggressively manage the interest rate exposure or distribution between different credit quality bonds."

The fund is up 3.8%, 13.4% and 29% on a one-year, three-year and five-year basis respectively.

Alexandra Jackson, Rathbone UK Opportunities

Alexandra Jackson has spent more than years with Rathbones, having joined as an equity analyst in 2007 before becoming co-manager of the Rathbone Recovery fund.

McDermott said: "This fund had a change of name last year: moving from Rathbone Recovery to Rathbone UK Opportunities, to better reflect the investment process used by Alexandra.

"It invests in UK companies of all sizes with a bias towards overlooked mid-sized growth companies that have scalable businesses and strong management teams.

"Alexandra knows her stocks inside out and has done well since taking it on four years ago."

The fund is up 8.5%, 27.1% and 59.9% over a one-year, three-year and five-year basis respectively. The IA UK All Companies sector has averaged returns of 4.5%, 18.6% and 45.1% over the same period.

Abby Glennie, Standard Life UK Opportunities

Abby Glennie, who joined Standard Life Investments in 2013 from Kames Capital, is responsible for the management of the UK Opportunities and UK Smaller Companies Pension fund and is a co-manager of the Bothwell UK Equity Smaller Companies fund.

McDermott said: "This is a multi-cap UK equity fund with a bias towards mid and small caps.

"It uses the SLI matrix investment process and is completely flexible – the manager has the ability to invest up to 35% in AIM stocks and up to 45% off benchmark.

"It is very concentrated and the active share is very high. Abby has been running it for almost three years now and it's on our watch list."

The fund has returned 24.2%, 36% and 74% over a one-year, three-year and five-year basis respectively. The IA UK All Companies sector has averaged returns of 4.5%, 18.6% and 45.1% over the same period.

Margaret Lawson, SVM UK Growth

Lawson co-founded SVM with Colin McLean in 1990 and serves as an investment director and manager of the SVM UK Growth fund.

McDermott said: "SVM is a small, privately-owned boutique, but has a very strong equity team. Stocks are held for three to five years and there is minimal turnover.

"Investments are split into three silos: core (sustainable growth and longer-term business models), tactical cyclicals (following macro trends) and alpha kickers (usually cheap companies with very new management teams)."

The fund is up 14.4%, 29.4% and 70.1% over a one-year, three-year and five-year basis respectively. The IA UK All Companies sector has averaged returns of 4.5%, 18.6% and 45.1% over the same period.

Claudia Calich, M&G Emerging Markets Bond

Representing more than 20 years of experience in emerging markets investing, Calich initially joined M&G in October 2013 as a specialist in emerging markets debt.

She is now fund manager of the M&G Emerging Markets Bond, Global Government Bond and Emerging Markets Hard Currency Bond funds. Calich is also deputy manager of the M&G Global Macro Bond fund.

McDermott said: "This fund has the flexibility to invest across the whole emerging market bond spectrum: in both government and corporate bonds, denominated in local currencies or hard currency.

"The manager uses her vast skill set in this asset class to analyse the macroeconomic environment, and individual companies, to pick what she believes to be the best mix of bonds for this portfolio."

The fund has returned -3.4%, 32.6% and 38.9% over a one-year, three-year and five-year basis respectively. The IA Global Emerging Markets Bond sector has returned -1.6%, 20.6 and 8.8 over the same period.