Standard Life Investments Global Absolute Return Strategies (SLI Gars) has seen its popularity with advisers fall over the last three years, according to FE analysis of funds most researched on its platform.
This year is the first since launch that the £17.5bn fund has not featured among the top five most-researched via FE.
FE research manager Charles Younes said investors are looking to alternatives such as JPM Global Macro Opportunities, Invesco Perpetual Global Targeted Absolute Return and Aviva Multi Strategy Target Returns.
SLI Gars versus Targeted Absolute Return rivals
| 6m | 1yr | 3yr | |
| Standard Life Investments Global Absolute Return Strategies | -2.63 | -2.98 | -4.76 |
| Aviva Inv Multi Strategy Target Return | 0.24 | -0.26 | 0.79 |
| Invesco Perpetual Global Targeted Returns | 0.04 | -1.12 | 6.00 |
| JPM Global Macro Opportunities | -5.85 | 6.24 | 11.32 |
| IA Targeted Absolute Return | -0.11 | 0.39 | 4.54 |
Source: FE Analytics
SLI Gars is now the ninth most-researched fund via FE.
Younes says: “The fact that Standard Life Gars has slipped further down the list is unsurprising when looking at the poor performance recorded by the fund over the last three years.
“The fund is about to record another year of negative performance; the last time being in 2016; which leaves the performance significantly below its target of cash + 5% over a rolling three-year period and since inception.”
In July, Portfolio Adviser reported the SLI Gars team have been bemoaning the level of press attention on outflows and said they “want to give two fingers to sniping in the media”.
Adviser interest in Woodford remains high
While poor performance has hit SLI Gars, it is a different story when it comes to Neil Woodford.
The star fund manager’s flagship fund Woodford Equity Income has remained one of the top three most researched funds over each of the last three years.
By contrast, multi-manager teams at Jupiter Merlin and Architas yanked large sums from Woodford last summer, swapping into rival UK equities manager Hugh Yarrow. Tilney and Charles Stanley have dropped Woodford Equity Income from their buy lists and Aviva has removed the fund from its workplace pensions platform.
Woodford Equity Income performance
| 6m | 1yr | 3yr | |
| Woodford Equity Income | 2.69 | -9.56 | -0.46 |
| IA UK All Companies | 8.63 | 6.90 | 26.23 |
Source: FE Analytics
Tilney managing director Jason Hollands said SLI Gars has not attracted the same level of media attention as Woodford. “There can be many reasons why an adviser will spend time researching a fund: because they are thinking of selecting it for clients, or because clients already hold it and they are unsure whether to stick with it being just two,” Hollands said.
UK equity funds were consistently the most researched by advisers over each of the last three years.
The UK All Companies has accounted for 18% of all research and UK Equity Income sector has accounted for 28%. That trend holds for the three-month period from May to July 2018 despite the rising threat of a no deal Brexit.
