The £1.4bn Man GLG Continental European Growth fund gained more than any other product in the IA Europe excluding UK sector in the year to the end of April 2018, according to data from FE Analytics.
The fund, managed by Rory Powe, grew from £590m to £1.4bn during the 12-month period, with just £86m of that being the result of asset growth as a result of performance.
The rest of the £730m is the result of net inflows.
The data can be seen the context of significant inflows into European equity funds, with £4.96bn invested in mandates in the IA Europe excluding UK sector in that time period, compared with the £909m withdrawn from funds in the IA UK Equity Income sector in the same time period.
Mr Powe’s fund has performed strongly of late, returning 13 per cent in the year to 7 June, compared with 3 per cent for the sector average.
Over the last five years to the same date, the fund has returned 148 per cent, compared with 66 per cent for the average fund in the sector.
Gill Hutchison, research director at the Adviser Centre, said: “The portfolio is populated with two types of companies.
“Established leaders should have robust qualities, such as strong balance sheets and a clear revenue growth map, while the established winners should display clear competitive advantages, rapid revenue growth and understated market values.
“The result is an eclectic combination of stocks, selected from across the market cap spectrum.
“The manager is prepared to express his convictions through a relatively concentrated portfolio, reinforcing his focus on companies with strong growth dynamics and unique market positions, and an independent risk function monitors the fund against guidelines and risk limits.
“Given the nature of the fund, it is best deployed as a long-term holding.”
The next fastest growing fund was Crux European Special Situations, which grew from £1.4bn to £2.1bn in the same time period.
The fund is run by former New Star and Henderson manager Richard Pease.
A total of £98m of the fund’s gain was the result of performance from the manager, with the remaining growth the result of inflows.
david.thorpe@ft.com
