"In the team’s view, the fund has failed to deliver to its performance objective for an extended period of time, and while they acknowledge that the long-term track record remains reasonable, the persistence of underperformance in recent years through a variety of market conditions has undermined their conviction to the extent that they believe the fund no longer merits its AA rating," the analyst research team said in a statement.
The fund, managed by Andy Brough, has returned 17.9% over the past three years versus a 45.7% return on the FTSE 250, according to figures from FE.
OBSR and Morningstar said the fund will continue to hold a Standard Rating on the Morningstar scale, indicating that it "is not a standout, but neither is it deeply flawed", and that "the analysts do not have a high degree of conviction that the fund can outperform."
The removal of the AA rating for the fund marks the completion of the alignment of OBSR and Morningstar ratings with regard to onshore funds.
