100 Club Awards 2015: UK Equity

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Category winner

Old Mutual UK Mid Cap fund

Launched in 2002, this fund has been managed by Richard Watts since 2009. It aims to provide capital growth from investing primarily in a portfolio of medium-sized UK companies.

In July this year, its remit was altered slightly to allow the team to invest in UK-listed companies that are considered medium in size but fall outside the FTSE 250 index. This includes stocks that are promoted into the FTSE 100 index.

At the time, Mr Watts said the aim was to provide greater flexibility. He stated: “In early 2014 we made the decision to run bigger positions in our highest-conviction ideas in the Old Mutual UK Mid Cap fund. A consequence of that has been that if a number of our highest-conviction ideas gained promotion to the FTSE 100 within a short period of time of each other, we may have been forced to sell stocks where we retain a high level of conviction, potentially to the detriment of clients in the fund.”

The fund has outperformed both the FTSE 250 (ex Investment Trusts) index and the Investment Association UK All Companies sector average across one, three, five and 10 years to October 21 2015. It has delivered a five-year return of 117.2 per cent against the sector average of 48.1 per cent and the benchmark gain of 86 per cent.

The largest allocation at August 31 was to consumer services at 30.5 per cent. Industrials make up 27.2 per cent of the portfolio. The top 10 holdings include Barratt Developments, Just Eat and Taylor Wimpey.

What the judges say

The winner was described as the “long-term quality pick” in a mid-cap space that remains the sweet spot for many investors.

In numbers

£1.97bn

Total assets

149.6%

Five-year actual return

0.85%

Ongoing charges

Club members

Allianz UK Mid Cap

Franklin UK Mid Cap

JP Morgan Mid Cap Trust

Neptune UK Mid Cap