Here we look at the eight of the most interesting funds preparing to blow out their candles.
In the IMA Cautious managed sector none of the three funds have all that much to celebrate as it seems they are all likely to be bottom quartile. The IFDS Chartwell Balanced Income fund, the IFDS Chartwell Cautious fund and the Fidelity MultiManager Distribution fund have all underperformed the sector index quite heavily; from the first of October 2006 to the 8th of September 2009 the funds underperformed by 19.29 per cent, 8.53 per cent and 16.1 per cent respectively.
The two funds in the IMA Global Growth sector have not fared much better. The City Financial Diversified Absolute Return fund is currently third quartile and is unlikely to have outperformed the sector by the time it turns three on 13 September; from the start of October 2006 to 8 September has underperformed by 4.62 per cent.
The real disappointment in this sector though has to be the Fidelity Global Special Situations fund. The fund was formed when the hugely successful Fidelity Special Situations fund split following the retirement of legendary investor Anthony Bolton. Since then things have not gone well with the fund currently on course to finish in the bottom quartile when it completes its three years on 18 September; over the same time period as before it is underperforming by 9.56 per cent.
There is a rare piece of good news in the IMA Balanced Managed sector; the IFDS Chartwell Strategic Growth fund is set for top quartile returns, although it won’t be such a happy birthday for the L&G (Barclays) Dividend & Growth fund which looks set to add to the ranks of bottom quartile three year olds this month.
The IFDS Chartwell Strategic Growth fund has returned 2.54 per cent for the period 1 October 2006 to 8 September 2009 compared to the -3.58 per cent achieved by the sector average. The L&G (Barclays) Dividend & Growth fund lost 11.57 per cent over the same period. Rounding off the disappointments is the City Financial Strategic Global Bond Fund, which rather than be left out is also likely to be bottom quartile for three year performance by the end of September. The full list of funds is noted below.
| Fund | IMA Sector | Launch Date | Performance 01/10/2006 – 08/09/2009 |
| IFDS Chartwell Strategic Growth | Balanced Managed | 18/09/2006 | 2.54% |
| L&G (Barclays) Dividend & Growth | Balanced Managed | 18/09/2006 | -11.57% |
| Fidelity MultiManager Distribution | Cautious Managed | 04/09/2006 | -18.19% |
| IFDS Chartwell Cautious | Cautious Managed | 18/09/2006 | -11.62% |
| IFDS Chartwell Balanced Income | Cautious Managed | 18/09/2006 | -22.38% |
| City Financial Strategic Global Bond | Global Bonds | 13/09/2006 | 6.06% |
| City Financial Diversified Absolute Return | Global Growth | 13/09/2006 | -7.85% |
| Fidelity Global Special Situations | Global Growth | 18/09/2006 | -12.59% |