Slater Investments’ Mark Slater has been named Britain’s top performing fund manager, beating back competition from better known rival Neil Woodford.
The MFM Slater Growth fund returned on average 12.2 per cent per annum over a 10 year period, according to TD Direct Investing’s annual top 25 Best of British Fund Managers list.
The fund outperformed the benchmark by 7.1 percentage points, making it by far the most successful equity fund on the list, judged purely on outperformance.
The next best performing fund was Michael Lindsell and Nick Train’s CF Lindsell Train UK Equity fund, which beat the benchmark by 6.3 per cent. No other fund outperformed by more than 4.4 per cent.
Neil Woodford came in at fifth place, with his CF Woodford Equity Income fund returning 9 per cent, and outperforming the benchmark by 3.8 per cent. This was an improvement on last year, when he came in ninth position.
The 25th top-performing fund - Richard Newbery and Alistair White’s Aberforth UK Small Companies - outperformed the benchmark by just 0.1 per cent.
Despite the fact that the bottom nine names on the list only beat the benchmark by 1 per cent or less, TD Direct Investing presented the results as “proof that active management is very much alive in the UK and that Britain remains a good place to invest despite the recent Brexit shock”.
“This list of the top 25 Best of British Fund Managers should give a welcome boost to UK investors,” the firm’s chief investment officer Michelle McGrade said.
“It highlights that there is a wide array of investment talent in Britain, with managers successfully navigating through economic cycles by investing in UK companies that outperform over the long term.
He said the list should “help those feeling less confident about where to put their money”.
“These managers are dedicated to delivering returns for their investors and are passionate about achieving long term outperformance – showing active management continues to have an essential role to play,” he said.
Top ten of TD Direct Investing’s annual top 25 Best of British Fund Managers
Rank | Manager | Fund | Morningstar rating | Annualised return (%) | Sector out-performance (%) | Category |
1 | Mark Slater | MFM Slater Growth | Bronze | 12.2 | 7.1 | Mid/Small |
2 | Michael Lindsell & Nick Train | CF Lindsell Train UK Equity | Gold | 11.5 | 6.3 | Core |
3 | Anthony Cross & Julian Fosh | Liontrust UK Smaller Companies | Bronze | 11.7 | 4.4 | Mid/Small |
4 | Francis Brooke | Troy Trojan Income | Silver | 9.3 | 4 | Income |
5 | Neil Woodford | CF Woodford Equity Income | Bronze | 9 | 3.8 | Income |
6 | John Wood | JOHCM UK Opportunit-ies | Silver | 8.6 | 3.7 | Core |
7 | Mark Barnett | IP UK Strategic Income | Bronze | 8.6 | 3.7 | Income |
8 | Harry Nimmo | SLI UK Smaller Companies | Silver | 10.9 | 3.6 | Mid/Small |
9 | Daniel Nickolls | Old Mutual Smaller Companies | Gold | 10.5 | 3.2 | Mid/Small |
10 | James de Uphaugh & Chris Field | Majedie UK Equity | Bronze | 8.4 | 3.2 | Core |
Adviser view
Dennis Hall, chief executive of London-based Yellowtail Financial Planning, said: “I am not saying there are no people who outperform but people who do, don’t do it consistently and it is incredibly difficult to find out who will outperform going forward.
“I effectively buy a bunch of trackers with a tilt towards special situations, value and small caps and once we have got that secured, if the client wants someone who is a conviction manager we might find one.”