Your Industry  

Investment Adviser 100 Club - July 2016

Investment Adviser 100 Club - July 2016

Introduction

In addition, eight of the 17 fund categories have entirely new members, with the Asia Pacific, European, Global Emerging Markets, Japanese and Global Equity categories having a complete refresh, alongside the Property, Specialist Sectors and Assets and Sterling Corporate Bond groups.

Market volatility in the past 12 months, combined with macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns, may have helped drive the change in membership, as, for example, the UK Equity category was last year filled with mid-cap funds.

But with uncertainty in the first half of this year regarding the EU referendum vote, it is perhaps unsurprising that only one member has returned from 2015, the JPMorgan Mid Cap Investment Trust.

That said, there are a number of new entrants from fund houses such as Crux, with its European Special Situations fund, Matthews Asia, with the Pacific Tiger fund, and Pioneer Investments, with its US Fundamental Growth and Emerging Markets Bond funds.

KEY NUMBERS

8 out of 20

Categories with entirely new members compared with 2015

10 out of 20

Fund groups returning to this year’s 100 Club

11 out of 85

Funds that made the Club again from 2015

12 out of 85

Number of investment trusts in the 100 Club in 2016

2 out of 3

Fidelity and BlackRock are members in two of the three group categories

The number of returning funds from earlier years has also increased. The current vintage includes seven vehicles that were last members of the 100 Club in the inaugural membership in 2012.

Perhaps the most interesting development this year is the fall in the number of investment trust members –down from 19 in 2015 to just 12 this year, spread across eight categories with most located in the Specialist category.

There are some long-standing members of the 100 Club, with the Henderson UK Absolute Return fund and Finsbury Income & Growth Trust returning as members for the fourth time in five years, while five vehicles have made the list in three of the past five years.

But it is the group categories that show the most consistency. This year five groups top the list with the most nominations overall – Fidelity, Jupiter, JPMorgan Asset Management, Old Mutual Global Investors and Schroders, while BlackRock and Fidelity appear in two group categories for Passive Investment Groups and Large Investment Group.

All the group members have appeared in the list at least once before, but it is Vanguard and iShares that have secured the most success, with both companies appearing in every 100 Club passives list since 2012.

With this year’s membership more diverse than ever, as new entrants challenge the old guard, the big question is who can convert their memberships into category wins at the Investment Adviser 100 Club Awards in October.

Nyree Stewart is features editor at Investment Adviser

In this special report