When it comes to the medium-sized companies, a special mention must go to Stewart Investors – formerly First State Stewart – and Miton, which both saw high average deciles of 1 (across 11 funds) and 2.2 (across 10 funds) respectively.
Being in the top decile for all 11 funds in the current market climate is no easy feat. However, some of the Stewart Investors funds sit in the Specialist sector, and are not ranked because it is not possible to compare such different funds with each other. Three funds sit in the Asia space, and while they have all underperformed and lost money, they have still done a lot better than the majority of funds in the space.
It should also be noted that MFM and Marlborough are not grouped together as they are not solely managed by one company – for example, Hathaway Investment Management is the investment adviser for the MFM Hathaway fund, not Marlborough.
At the top of both Tables for large companies is BNY Mellon (including Newton and Insight Investment) which has 62 funds and recorded an average sector decile of 3.8, making it Money Management’s Fund House of the Year.
Becoming a winner
So how has the company done it? Fergus McCarthy, head of UK & Ireland intermediary sales at BNY Mellon says the group’s performance is proof of how its multi-boutique format works well. “One of the key attributes from our perspective is that an intermediary will have one point of contact and then we will give them access to our different boutiques. It is a case that you can come to us and get different views and different investment approaches.
“We have a number of events around the country where we try to showcase two or three at any one time. It gives intermediaries a good feel for the autonomy that they each have. Then they can come and see multiple firms through the medium of just one outlet,” he adds.
Different areas
Table 3 looks into the different spaces across IA sectors, and it becomes immediately clear which sectors had the most difficult year. Surprisingly, the UK funds have not been hit as hard as expected after the turbulent markets at the start of this year. But Asia funds have seen a different story. Smith & Williamson is the only manager to have seen a positive return on its funds in the Far East – seeing an average £1,020 across two funds in the space.
No space has seen stand out performances massively ahead of others, however, Global, Japan and North America have seen some of the highest returns among companies of all sizes. Smith & Williamson has seen the highest average return when on a sector-specific basis – although this was based on just one fund in the Global group.
