John Chatfeild-Roberts: Merlin Funds 'in Good Shape' To Tackle Coronavirus Impact

In a short video updating investors on how his team has managed its portfolios through the coronavirus pandemic so far, Chatfeild-Roberts acknowledged there would be "both short- and long-term impacts" of the pandemic, but said his team would do everything it could to mitigate downside risk.

He added: "On the short term everyone is worried about companies running out of cash. In the long term you will see changes in the way companies operate their supply lines, and how they operate perhaps in a more digital way.

"Merlin funds have always been managed so that downside risk, where we can mitigate it, has been at the forefront of our minds."

Chatfeild-Roberts said the Merlin team is not in the business of "investing in funds that invest in companies that are likely to go bust because that is destruction of capital. If you have share prices that go down but the company survives, that's another thing entirely".

He added: "Many strong companies use these circumstances to make themselves stronger, buy out weaker competitors, [for example]."

The £1.6bn AUM Jupiter Merlin Balanced Portfolio, which Algy Smith-Maxwell, Amanda Sillars and David Lewis, is down 15% year-to-date, according to FE fundinfo, beating its IA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector's loss of 19.5% over the same period.

The fund has returned 18% over five years to 19 March, compared to the sector's gains of just 5.3%.

Its top two holdings are TB Evenlode Income and Fundsmith Equity, which are down 25.6% and 10.2% year-to-date, but have both outperformed their sectors by a distance.

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Chatfeild-Roberts added: "If you look at our portfolios, they are in good shape.

"We have got our gold holding, we also have many experienced managers who have seen similar sorts of things before - I would not say exactly the same because obviously this is a different form of crisis, but we think we are in good shape."