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Over five years the fund has returned 10.2 per cent a year and has produced first-quartile performance in each of the five years.

Mr Roberts became deputy head of the fund at the start of that period, taking over three years ago.

"I'm a stock picker and I've seen value in large-cap blue-chip stocks, which some think of as safe stocks," he said. "Investing in large caps has been the key to our consistent outperformance."

He pointed out fund managers who rode the mid-cap wave from 2003-07 have been left struggling now large caps have made a comeback.

"Those managers missed the potential that large caps offered and are suffering now," Mr Roberts said.

His fund has also been underweight in financials and overweight in pharmaceuticals since he took over.

"I've been underweight in financials pretty much for as long as I've been running the fund," Mr Roberts said. "When I look for individual stocks to invest in I look at the history of returns, which could mean looking back as far as 15 years.

"This time last year, for instance, financials were making huge returns on equity compared to their history. But I had an element of scepticism that they could continue making such returns."

Against that, he has been attracted by the discounted prices of some pharmaceutical stocks.

"Companies such as AstraZeneca had grown hugely a few years ago when the market became excited by their potential. The former optimism in the stock was stripped away by patent expiries and other problems," Mr Roberts said.

"But we saw it as a good defensive company which we picked up on at an attractive multiple and that's coming good for us now."