L-R: Taha Lokhandwala, news editor at Investment Adviser, Catherine Rex, marketing manager at Old Mutual Global Investors, and Richard Romer-Lee, managing director at Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research
The outstanding Old Mutual UK Dynamic Equity fund, which has been managed by Luke Kerr since it launched in June 2009, beat off the competition in this popular category. The manager’s objective is to achieve capital appreciation by taking long and short positions in UK equities outside the FTSE 100 index.
Performance has been strong, with the fund outperforming both its peer group and benchmark over the past year, despite some volatility in the aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
The fund returned 12.2 per cent over the 12 months to October 26, while the IA UK All Companies sector delivered an average of 7.4 per cent and the FTSE 250 ex Investment Trust index rose just 4.7 per cent, data from FE Analytics shows.
The vehicle generated a five-year return to October 26 of 161.7 per cent, beating the sector average of 64.4 per cent and the index’s gain of 100 per cent over the period.
Mr Kerr had a 29.2 per cent exposure to industrials at the end of September, with consumer services accounting for 25.8 per cent of the portfolio.
He runs a relatively concentrated portfolio of 51 holdings and the fund’s top-three largest holdings are Paysafe Group, Just Eat and Melrose Industries.
What the judges say
The judges commented that the manager’s unconstrained approach and well-resourced team continue to perform strongly and add significant alpha.
