A slight majority of FTAdviser readers have raised exposure to UK equity income, according to a February poll.
Nearly six in 10 (57 per cent) said they had increased their clients’ exposure to UK equity income funds over the past year, while over four in 10 (43 per cent) said they had not.
Outflows from UK equity funds reached a record £5.3bn last year, according to the Investment Association.
The previous record was £4.9bn in 2016, when the UK voted to leave the European Union, the trade body added.
But there are signs of a change in attitudes towards UK equities.
In January J O Hambro Capital Management announced that it had reopened the JOHCM UK Dynamic fund and the JOHCM UK Equity Income fund.
The active asset manager said the decision was a result of the “high conviction we have in our processes in the current market environment and our positive outlook for the asset class following a multi-year period of redemptions in UK Equities”.
Both funds had only been available to existing investors after ‘soft closures’ in 2019 and 2013 respectively.
Last month fund manager Nick Train also said that the backdrop for investing in equities remained “hugely encouraging” in a letter to shareholders of the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund.
Chloe Cheung is a features writer at FTAdviser
