Holding on to a five FE fundinfo Crown Rating is exceptionally difficult. The biannual rankings assess three-year fund performance across alpha, volatility and consistency of returns, with only the top 10% of funds awarded the full five crowns.
So whether it be the asset class falling out of favour or peers overtaking, there are many reasons why funds fall from the top spot.
Yet there are some specific mandates that top the pile more often than not. Here, Trustnet looked at the IA Specialist and IA Unclassified sectors – home to some of the most focused strategies in the market, from single-country equity funds to gold miners.
The IA Specialist sector groups funds with a narrow, often single-theme mandate – biotechnology, commodities, a single country; IA Unclassified covers funds that do not fit any standard Investment Association peer group, typically because their strategy or structure falls outside the usual categories.
Below, Trustnet screened both sectors for funds with a current five-Crown rating that have also held a top ranking for at least 50% of the time over the past decade.
| Top funds maintaining a maximum Crown rating since 2016 | |||
| Fund | IA Sector | Number of periods with 5 FE Crowns | Periods of track record with data |
| Polar Capital Biotechnology | IA Specialist | 16 of 20 | 95% |
| JPM Korea Equity Fund | IA Specialist | 15 of 20 | 100% |
| The Magpie | IA Unclassified | 13 of 20 | 95% |
| The Aspen | IA Unclassified | 12 of 20 | 100% |
| HSBC World Selection Adventurous Portfolio | IA Unclassified | 11 of 20 | 85% |
| Thesis Juniper | IA Unclassified | 11 of 20 | 100% |
| WS Ruffer Gold | IA Specialist | 10 of 20 | 100% |
Source: FinXL
Polar Capital Biotechnology led both sectors, holding five crowns in 16 of the 20 periods since 2016, or 80% of the decade. The fund held the top rating almost continuously from mid-2016 through to the end of 2024, with only a brief dip to four crowns at the end of 2021. It fell further across 2024 and 2025 but got its five-crown status back in the latest rebalance.
The $3.6bn mandate is led by FE fundinfo Alpha Manager David Pinniger, typically holding 40‑60 positions with no relation to a benchmark or tracking error constraints.
Largely invested in the United States (67% of the portfolio), its top positions are Belgian-Dutch pharmaceutical company Argenx (5.5%), US-based oncology specialist Revolution Medicine (4.8%) and American pharma company Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (4.4%).
Biotechnology as a sector has been in the doldrums but is largely considered to be an AI winner and experts have been expecting better fortunes this year.
In second place, JPM Korea Equity was close behind, with five crowns in 15 of its 20 periods. The fund held the top rating in almost every period from mid-2016 through to end-2022, with only isolated dips to four crowns in 2021 and from 2023 before returning to five crowns this year.
The region has grown considerably this year on the back of the AI momentum. Enthusiasm for the semiconductor supply chain has driven companies such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics to new heights. There are the top two holdings in the fund at 10% each.
Third place on the table above went to Tutman’s The Magpie, an IA Unclassified fund with five crowns in 13 of 20 periods. The fund has held four or five crowns in every single period on record, never dropping below four – a level of consistency none of the other funds in this screen matched.
Also in IA Unclassified, the small The Aspen took fourth place. It held five crowns in every period from mid-2016 through to end-2021 before falling sharply, dropping to one crown across 2022 and 2023. It has been climbing the ranks again steadily, rebalancing higher through three and four crowns before reaching the top ranking of five again at the latest review.
Two funds shared fifth place with 11 five-Crown periods each – HSBC World Selection Adventurous Portfolio and Thesis Juniper.
The former is a mixed-asset fund mainly focusing on global equity (73%), with smaller allocations to cash (6%), listed infrastructure (5.6%) and commodities (5%).
Manager Nicholas McLoughlin allocates to both index-tracking passive funds and stocks, his main positions being in Nvidia (3.2%) Apple (2.9%) and Alphabet (2.5%).
Information technology makes up 23.5% of the £358.2m portfolio, followed by financials at 11% and industrials at 8.6%.
Another strategy by Tutman, Thesis Juniper held five crowns from mid-2016 through to end-2021, then dropped steadily before recovering.
Finally, WS Ruffer Gold held five crowns for exactly half of the past decade. Its rating has been the most volatile of the group, fluctuating between two and five crowns with no extended run in either direction.
Manager Paul Kennedy targets capital growth over the long term, investing at least 70% of its portfolio in equities and equity-related securities tied to gold and precious metal companies, with the remainder able to move into commodities, bonds or cash.
The asset allocation is driven by the manager's macro and valuation views on gold-related securities.
This article is part of a series. In the previous instalments, we covered: IA Global and mixed-asset sectors.