At the same time, Schroders announced that Giles Money, manager of the Schroder global climate change strategy and its global sector specialist for utilities and materials, is to leave the firm.
Money, who has been with Schroders since 2010, has left to “to pursue another opportunity” Schroders said and was careful to note that the move is completely independent of the reshuffle underway as a result of the review.
The realignment of responsibilities at the firm comes in the wake of a review of the team’s philosophy and investment process undertaken by Alex Tedder, Schroders’ head of global and international equities begun when he joined the firm in July from American Century.
According to Tedder, the sole focus of the changes announced are to improve the delivery of investment performance for clients.
As part of the reshuffle James Gautrey has been promoted to portfolio manager for international equities.
He was previously a global sector specialist and will now support lead manager Simon Webber with the management of the global ex-US portfolios, while Andre Reichel has been promoted to global sector specialist for utilities, taking over those responsibilities from Money.
Global sector specialist, Katherine Davidson, will take over coverage of telcos from Gautrey in addition to the auto sector, which she will still cover.
According to Schroders, four areas in need of “incremental improvement” were identified:
- A simplification and tightening of the team’s philosophy
- An increased focus on the fundamental risks of investing in a company
- Improved portfolio risk management
- Improved ‘sell discipline’ “with a clearer focus on anticipating the emergence of negative earnings trends relative to market expectations.”
Tedder added: “Increased accountability for performance and idea generation within the team together with recent enhancements to the investment process will help drive a sustainable improvement in performance over the coming months.”
As a result of the departure of Money, the firm said it is currently in search of an experienced resources sector analyst.
