Richard Buxton, Alastair Mundy and Nick Train are among the fund managers which have managed to “hold their nerve” and scoop up strong returns over the past year, despite being faced with tricky markets, according to research TD Direct Investing.
The investment services firm has published a league table of the UK’s best performing fund managers, of which nine invest primarily in some of the country’s largest companies.
The research, which compared the funds against the FTSE All Share index over the past year, pointed to several fund managers which Michelle McGrade, chief investment officer at TD Direct, branded a “safe pair of hands”.
“These are typically industry veterans who can be relied upon to stick to their process through market ups and downs, riding out difficult times to deliver long-term outperformance.”
The managers listed as those which invest in the most “stable” companies include, Alastair Mundy, who runs Investec’s UK Special Situations, Richard Buxton, manager of the Old Mutual UK Alpha fund, and Stephen Adams of Kames UK Equity.
Nick Train and Michael Lindsell, who both manage the Lindsell Train UK Equity fund, were the winners when it comes to investing in the most established UK companies, which Ms McGrade said was largely due to the fund’s high exposure to consumer staples.
She said these managers have “held their nerve” in turbulent times, and recommended the funds become a core part of a portfolio, while looking increasingly attractive to those investors wanting to minimise risk.
Back in June, Mr Buxton told FTAdviser why his £2.2bn fund’s performance had been “lumpy”.
However, the fund has since made a come-back, outperforming the IA UK All Companies sector over the past six months.
“Markets never go up in a straight line,” Ms McGrade said. “We know that when markets are unpredictable investors can get nervous, and at such times these are the kind of managers that investors may want to turn to.”
