AJ Bell has removed IFSL Evenlode Global Income from its Favourite funds list after its confidence in the fund’s ability to deliver attractive long-term outcomes for investors fell, the broker said in a communication last Friday.
The Favourite funds list is AJ Bell’s independent shortlist of funds it believes can meet their objectives over the long term and it is kept under constant review.
Having grown low single-digits in the past three years, the £846m Evenlode Global Income fund has been at the bottom of the IA Global Equity Income sector for returns in 2026 (when it ranked 54th out of 57), 2025 (54th out of 55) and 2024 (50th out of 54 with a 0.03% loss).
Performance of fund against index and sector over 5yrs
Source: FE Analytics
The fund follows a “quality” approach, which means it looks for cash-generative companies with strong competitive advantages that can grow their dividend over time and it isn’t the only quality fund to have struggled, as Alex Wickham, research analyst at AJ Bell, noted.
“This investment approach has been a hindrance to returns in recent years as the broader global stock market has favoured businesses with faster-growing earnings (typically within the technology sector), as well as those starting on lower valuations such as energy companies and banks,” he said.
“Many of these recent market ‘winners’ fall outside the fund’s quality investment approach which, in hindsight, we believe may be too restrictive to compete against global equities through fluctuating markets.”
AJ Bell has not dropped quality investing altogether, as it continues to include strategies that take a broader view of quality in its list, such as IFSL Evenlode Income, which focuses on the UK market and remains ranked, as well as WS Guinness Global Equity Income, FSSA Asia Focus and Fidelity Emerging Markets, among others.
The change to AJ Bell’s Favourite funds list is the first one since January 2025 and follows from an update in the trusts list. In September 2026, the platform removed Aberdeen UK Smaller Companies Growth because of its merger with JPMorgan UK Small Cap Growth & Income.
“The JP Morgan trust places a greater emphasis on income distribution than is usual for a smaller companies trust, which may make it less suitable for investors seeking long-term capital growth,” the analysts said.
The global version of the strategy, JPMorgan Global Growth & Income, is however a new AJ Bell Favourite, as it offers investors “access to a flexible global equity strategy that is not constrained by having to generate income at the underlying stock level but still pays out (quarterly) an annual yield supported by income from the underlying stocks and capital growth”.
The analysts were “impressed by the depth and calibre of JP Morgan’s analyst team, the trust’s disciplined stock-selection-led process and the team’s focus on high-quality companies trading at attractive valuations”.
The trust also has “a highly competitive ongoing charge” of 0.39%.