Six MM funds included in top 20 for January: Cofunds

There were six multi-manager funds in the Cofunds list of the 20 highest selling funds last month, with three in the top 10, of which David Hambidge and Ian Rees’s £73.6m Premier Multi-Asset Distribution Fund ranked third.

Asset allocation in the fund is weighted to equities, according to the January 2012 fund factsheet, of which 34.67 per cent are UK equities and 12.08 per cent in international equities.

Although cumulative performance in the five years to 31 December 2011 was down 7.6 per cent, Mr Hambidge said the fund’s exposure to equity income funds had helped it end the year on a high, producing a return of 1.6 per cent in December, putting it ahead of the sector average of 1.3 per cent.

He said capital performance had been “uninspiring”, but the fund had a good year for income. The end of the last financial year saw total income paid out rise by 4.8 per cent on the previous year.

He said: “We keep banging on about this, but income growth is highly important. If we can keep growing the income on the fund by this level or more, we can protect investors’ standards of living against the erosive effects of inflation.”

The end of 2011 also saw two infrastructure holdings added to the fund, which hold assets such as toll bridges, ports, airports and hospitals, that earn a steady stream of income, often paid by governments.

Mr Hambidge added: “The income paid by these collections of assets is respectable and also appealing as the revenue streams are less sensitive to the economic cycle.”