The Blue Whale Growth and Evenlode Global Income funds have bagged top ratings from Fundcalibre after passing their three year track records.
Stephen Yiu’s Blue Whale Growth fund and Ben Peters’ (pictured) Evenlode Global Income fund were among four funds, including two trusts, to pick up Elite ratings in the research agency’s latest ratings round-up.
Two other funds, the Invesco Global Focus and Aberdeen Standard Global Mid-Cap Equity Sicav, were awarded an Elite Radar badge.
Blue Whale Growth and Evenlode Global Income singled out for top quartile performance
Yiu’s fund, which launched in September 2017 with £25m in funding from Peter Hargreaves, has returned 78% over the last three years, compared to the IA Global average of 42.6%, according to Trustnet.
Research director Juliet Schooling Latter described the £722.5m fund as a “truly active fund with a very concentrated portfolio of just 25 to 35 stocks”.
“LF Blue Whale Growth has come storming onto the global equity funds scene since its launch in September 2017,” she said. “Manager Stephen Yiu only invests in the very highest quality businesses and ignores those that are structurally challenged.”
The majority of the fund is made up of US equities (71.8%), followed by European equities (20.7%) and Asia Pacific equities (4.6%).
See also: Blue Whale Growth draws comparisons to Fundsmith Equity as it bags top rating in FE rebalance
Meanwhile Peters’ fund, which he manages alongside Chris Elliott, has returned 38.6% on a three year view compared to the IA Global Equity Income returns of 22.9%.
Since launching in November 2017 the fund’s assets have swelled to £933m. It currently has around 39.5% in European stocks, 37.4% in US equities and 18.8% in UK companies and top holdings spanning Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser and Microsoft.
“The managers are not afraid to be radically different from their benchmark and the dividend held up better than the market in a very difficult 2020,” Schooling Latter added.
See also: Evenlode’s Peters escapes brother-in-law Yarrow’s shadow
Other ratings awarded
Elsewhere Fund Calibre said the Invesco Global Focus fund had made it onto the Elite Radar after returning 45.6% over a one year period, compared to the IA Global average of 15.8%.
Randall Dishmon replaced Stephen Anness as manager of the fund in 2020. Schooling Latter describes Dishmon’s approach as “refreshingly simple”, combining an understanding of structural trends and investing in the best companies benefitting from these trends.
Also coming onto Fund Calibre’s radar was the Aberdeen Standard Global Mid-Cap Equity Sicav, which Schooling Latter said “targets the ‘next 15%’ up the market cap” and captures “the ‘graduates’ from the small cap universe, as well as new ideas”.
JP Morgan China Growth & Income and JP Morgan Emerging Markets were both named Elite Rated trusts. The trusts have performed well long-term, with JPM Emerging Markets celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Latter said of the trust: “Backed by one of the largest emerging market research teams, manager Austin Forey has delivered excellent returns on this trust for more than two decades, demonstrating his long-term approach to stock picking has been successful, whilst also being able to evolve this portfolio to meet changing trends.”
