Julie Dean’s £370m Cazenove UK Opportunities fund has been one of the most consistent performers in the competitive UK All Companies sector since 2008, earning five FE crowns in the process.

The portfolio has significantly outperformed its sector average and FTSE All Share benchmark over one, three and five years, with less volatility.

Most impressive, however, is its consistency; according to FE data, the fund has beaten its benchmark by at least 4 per cent in each of the last five calendar years – including 2012.

Year-on-year performance of fund vs sector and index

Name	2012 returns (%)	2011 returns (%)	2010 returns (%)	2009 returns (%)	2008 returns (%)
Cazenove - UK Opportunities	7.81	1.3	20.09	34.49	-23.29
FTSE All Share	-1.43	-3.46	14.51	30.12	-29.93
IMA UK All Companies	0.99	-7.04	17.53	30.4	-31.96

Source: FE Analytics

This run includes a relatively successful 2008, where it lost 8.67 per cent less than the average fund in its sector.

However, unlike the majority of UK growth portfolios that protected effectively against the downside during the financial crisis, Cazenove UK Opportunities also managed to outperform the market during the up-markets of 2009 and 2010.

Over the 24-month period, the fund returned 54.58 per cent, compared with 44.63 per cent from the All Share.

This balance of strong performance in both up- and down-markets is why the fund is a top-decile performer over five years, with returns of 29.03 per cent. Only five funds have a better record over the period, three of which focus on mid caps.

Performance of fund vs sector and index over 5-yrs



Source: FE Analytics

The performance of the fund is in keeping with its objectives; Dean seeks to outperform the UK equity market with less volatility than the sector average, and to beat the FTSE All-Share index by 3 per cent (net of fees) on a calendar-year basis over the medium-term – something it has done consistently in recent years.

Cazenove UK Opportunities is an unconstrained fund, able to invest in any sector or index across the UK market. Unlike many of its competitors, it has a high weighting to stocks outside the FTSE 100.

Babcock International and Howden Joinery, which are part of the FTSE 250 index, are both top-five holdings in the portfolio, with a weighting of 5.23 and 4.09 per cent respectively.

The team pays close attention to the UK business cycle, making calls not only on a bottom-up stock level, but also with a top-down macro outlook. This enabled it to make defensive calls in 2008 and 2011, when it upped its exposure to defensive stocks in the pharmaceutical and tobacco sectors.

Speaking to FE Trustnet back in June 2011, Dean said: "The fund has no stylistic bias. If you foresee what’s coming round the corner you have a big advantage over your competitors – that’s why we were able to outperform in 2008, 2009 and 2010."

At this point, the manager had just upped her exposure to defensives, which held the fund in good stead during 2011's summer slump.

Cazenove UK Opportunities has a minimum investment of £1,000 and a total expense ratio (TER) of 1.56 per cent. FE Alpha Manager Steve Cordell joined Dean as deputy manager of the fund in July 2011. He also heads up the Cazenove UK Absolute Target portfolio.