The £689.6m Income Focus fund, launched in March 2017, is one of six funds to fall out of the FE Invest approved list.
FE research manager Charles Younes said they are concerned about the fund’s allocation to smaller companies.
Younes said: “There’s been some poor stock selection decisions over the past 12 months and we no longer believe that the talents of Neil Woodford are enough to overcome these shortcomings.”
The Troy Trojan Income fund has also been ousted due to poor stock picking.
In contrast, the Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders fund has also been ousted despite strong performance. Younes said they rate the fund and management highly but have concerns about capacity in the £7.7bn fund, which is co-managed by David Gait and Sashi Reddy.
JOHCM UK Opportunities, Janus Henderson European Selected Opportunities and Fidelity American Special Situations have also been removed from the funds list.
New entrants
Meanwhile, Evenlode Income, lead managed by Hugh Yarrow (pictured) with deputy manager Ben Peters, is among 10 new entrants to the list. The Oxfordshire-based pair are often touted as young rivals to Woodford.
Elsewhere, Veritas Asian is listed by FE as an alternative to Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders.
Younes said: “The fund is managed with an absolute return mindset. Veritas’s management team looks for structural growth and thematic ideas in Asia, and dive deeply into fundamental analysis to find company-specific opportunities.”
Fraser Mackersie alongside Simon Moon, who manage the Unicorn UK Income fund, also feature in the list, despite apologising to investors in their latest fund fact sheet for holding Conviviality in the lead up to its administration.
Younes said it is different to other income funds in its tilt towards small and medium-cap companies over large-cap stocks.
The relatively under the radar Dodge & Cox US Stock fund is also among the new entrants. Younes noted the fund is not well known in the UK, but has attracted several billions AUM in the US.
Oyster Continental European Selection, Schroder European Alpha Plus, Invesco Perpetual Global Opportunities, JPM UK Equity Growth, Montanaro UK Income and T Rowe Price Japanese Equity are the remaining new entrants to the funds list.
