Alexandra Jackson’s Rathbone UK Opportunities is among the funds to snag an Elite rating from Fundcalibre, with Schroders’ year-old British Opportunities trust also bagging an Elite Radar.
Seven funds in total were upgraded by Fundcalibre’s autumn investment committee, with the Allianz China A-Shares and Matthews Asia Ex Japan Dividend also landing the top rating.
A trio of funds with three-year track records – Crux UK Special Situations fund, Martin Currie European Unconstrained and Rathbone Greenbank Global Sustainability – moved from radar to Elite rated.
Rathbones UK Opportunities bounces back amid Covid recovery
Fundcalibre highlighted Rathbones UK Opportunities’ Jackson (pictured) as an “exciting up and coming UK manager” targeting quality growth businesses.
Her £74.5m fund has bounced back strongly during the Covid recovery and topped peers in the IA UK All Companies sector. Over three years it has returned 48.1% compared with the 27% sector average, according to Trustnet.
Fundcalibre research director Juliet Schooling Latter said Jackson “looks to take advantage of cheap UK valuations, but avoids the ex-growth, large-cap dinosaurs” and “combines structural winners with a strong core of high-quality compounders”.
“The fund’s low annual charge of just 0.45% is also attractive for investors,” she added.
See also: Alexandra Jackson: ‘UK doesn’t have Amazon or Spotify but it has the plumbing behind it’
Crux UK Special Situations and Schroders British Opportunities scoop ratings
Jackson’s fund was one of three UK Smid-focused funds to snag an Elite rating in Fundcalibre’s latest round-up.
Richard Penny’s Crux UK Special Situations fund moved into the top category after passing its three-year track record, while the Schroders British Opportunities trust gained an Elite Radar badge, which is handed to promising funds with a short track record.
Schooling Latter said Penny’s £210.8m fund has “started very strongly” since launching in 2018, over which time it has returned 55.5%, double the IA UK All Companies’ 27%, according to Trustnet.
Though the fund invests across the cap-spectrum, Schooling Latter notes its concentrated 40-stock portfolio has a bias to Smid firms compared to peers.
See also: UK Smid managers come back fighting after being tarred by Brexit and Covid sell-off
Schroders British Opportunities has around 30 to 50 small and mid-sized public and private businesses in need of “fresh” equity injections.
Launched in response to the Covid pandemic, the trust “seeks to tap into the unloved status of UK equities by targeting companies which have been in the eye of the storm”, Schooling Latter said.
Though the trust only managed to raise a third of its £250m IPO target, it successfully launched last December, while fellow UK smaller companies trusts Tellworth British Recovery & Growth and Sanford Deland’s Buffettology Smaller Companies failed to get off the ground.
See also: Stars align for Schroders £250m investment trust IPO after rivals failed to launch
