Equity IncomeDec 14 2018

Three most popular funds of 2018 revealed

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Three most popular funds of 2018 revealed

The £16.9bn Fundsmith Equity fund was the most popular product with clients of the Bestinvest platform in 2018.

The global equity fund, which is run by industry veteran Terry Smith, has returned 9 per cent over the past year, compared with a loss of 1 per cent for the average fund in the IA Global sector in the same time period.

Jason Hollands, managing director for business development and communications at Tilney, said: "The fund, which Smith has poured many millions of his own wealth into, has consistently been the most popular choice with Bestinvest clients every month for a few years now.

"Fans have been well rewarded for their faith, with the fund even making a double digit positive return in 2018 despite it being a tough year for markets.

"The fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 20 to 30, blue chip 'quality' companies from across the globe which includes the likes of PepsiCo, Microsoft, Paypal and Estee Lauder."

The next most popular fund with clients of the platform was the £5.4bn Lindsell Train Global Equity fund, run by Nick Train.

The £5.4bn fund has returned 15 per cent over the past year.

Mr Hollands said: "The fund is full of companies that own well-known consumer brands, including ice cream to soap owner Unilever, Guinness-owning drinks giant Diageo, Heineken, Walt Disney, Modelez (which owns Cadburys) and Japanese cosmetics group Shiseido.

"One of the main differences with Smith's fund, is less exposure to US companies and a sizeable weighting to Japan.

"I should stress, however, that the geographic exposure is very much an outcome of the typically international companies selected, rather than driven by the tean taking a view on regional market outlook."

The next most popular fund with clients of the platform was the HSBC US Index fund, a tracker.

The fund tracks the performance of the S&P 500 index, and has a fee of 0.07 per cent.

  1. Fundsmith Equity 
  2. Lindsell Train Global Equity 
  3. HSBC American Index 
  4. Liontrust Special Situations 
  5. Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders 
  6. Threadneedle UK Equity Income
  7. Fidelity Emerging Markets 
  8. Threadneedle European Select
  9. Vanguard Life Strategy 80 per cent Equity 
  10. Artemis Global Income 

david.thorpe@ft.com