The last 12 months have been testing for investors, with concerns over a slowdown in China at the start of the year followed by the largely unexpected results of the EU referendum and more recently the US presidential election causing uncertainty in the world. 
However, data from FE Analytics shows this has failed to translate into the marketplace, with the 12 months to 11 November substantially less volatile than the average annual figure over the past decade.
Over the last year, the FTSE All Share has gone through volatility of 6.34 per cent, 7.72 percentage points behind the average annual volatility over the last 10 years (14.06 per cent).
Performance of indices over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
As a result, active managers have struggled to outperform the benchmark, with the IA UK All Companies and UK Equity Income sectors lagging the market over the year.
When the market is more volatile it creates opportunities for active managers to exploit these sharp movements by buying oversold individual stocks and selling overbought ones. Of course, some may also have been wrong-footed by the surprise political results and the rebound in commodity prices.
With the market relatively smooth over the course of the year, FE Trustnet looks at some of the funds that have managed to outperform, those that haven’t and the outliers in the three main UK equity sectors.
IA UK All Companies
Very few funds in the IA UK All Companies sector have beaten the market with less volatile, with a large number of active funds in the ‘more volatile and lower return’ category.
Risk/return over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
In fact the only fund to sit in the ‘sweet spot’ in the sector is the five crown-rated JOHCM UK Opportunities fund, run by FE Alpha Manager John Wood.
The £1.8bn fund has returned 12.34 per cent over the last 12 months compared to the FTSE All Share’s 12.13 per cent and has experienced 6.2 per cent volatility over the period.
The biggest outlier is the Standard Life Investments UK Equity Recovery fund, run by David Cumming, which has returned 32.51 per cent, making it the best performer over the period.
However, this has come at the cost of volatility, with the £40m fund, which focuses on UK large- and mid-cap recovery stocks, also the most volatile in the sector (27.66 per cent).
There have been some underperformers as well, with the Elite Webb Capital Smaller Companies Income & Growth, down 12.25 per cent, Standard Life Investments UK Equity Unconstrained, which lost 7.60 per cent, and Jupiter UK Growth, down 7.78 per cent, among those to make substantial losses while also being highly volatile in the last 12 months.
IA UK Equity Income
Unlike the IA UK All Companies sector, no fund in the IA UK Equity Income space has hit the ‘sweet spot’ of lower volatility and higher returns against the FTSE All Share.
Chart of fund performances in sector over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
The two closest funds are the five crown-rated pair of Trojan Income and Franklin UK Equity Income.
The £3bn Trojan Income fund, run by FE Alpha Manager Francis Brooke, is a second quartile performer in the sector, returning 10.08 per cent over the last 12 months, but has been the second least volatile (4.94 per cent).
Meanwhile, Colin Morton and FE Alpha Manager Ben Russon’s £288m Franklin fund has been a top quartile performer over the period, returning 15.39 per cent, and ranks among the top 10 in the sector for volatility (7.07 per cent).
The biggest outlier of the group is UBS UK Equity Income, which has had a barnstorming year, returning 28.18 per cent to investors, making it the best performer in the sector.
However, the fund had been a disappointment over the previous 24 months, ranking in the bottom quartile and has been one of the most volatile in the last 12 months (12.7 per cent).
Two of most volatile funds (Standard Life Investments UK Equity Income Unconstrained, -3.24 per cent, and TB Saracen UK Income, -0.18 per cent) have both lost money over the past 12 months, while the most volatile fund (MI Chelverton UK Equity Income) made a 2.53 per cent gain.
However, all the funds listed above rank in the bottom quartile over the period for performance as well as volatility.
IA UK Smaller Companies
The IA UK Smaller Companies sector has seen active managers have the most relative success compared to their benchmark, with seven funds beating the Numis Smaller Companies ex IT index as well as going through lower volatility.
Chart of fund performances in sector over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
The top performer of the seven has been the five crown-rated MFM Techinvest Special Situations, run by Conor McCarthy and Darren Freemantle.
The £9.6m fund is in the second quartile over one year, returning 5.87 per cent, but has been in the top quartile for volatility (13.05 per cent) and maximum drawdown (7.37 per cent).
Also of note is the £364m Fidelity UK Smaller Companies fund, run by FE Alpha Manager Alex Wright and Jonathan Winton.
The fund has beaten the Numis Smaller Companies ex ITs index by 1.57 percentage points over the last 12 months, making it a top quartile performer in the sector, and is the second least volatile (11.95 per cent).
Square Mile Research said: “The focus on downside risk and subsequent protection of capital in severe sell-offs can be viewed as an extremely sensible approach in what has, historically, been a volatile asset class.”
The fund that has had the most difficult 12 months is the £1m Webb Capital Smaller Companies fund, run by Peter Webb, losing 9.24 per cent over the year, making it the sector’s worst performer.
Conversely, the best performer has been the five crown-rated Old Mutual UK Smaller Companies Focus fund, run by Nick Williamson.
The £149m fund has returned 19.26 per cent to investors over the last year and is in the top three performers over three, five and 10 year timeframes.
It has been one of the most volatile in the sector (17.98 per cent) and is a slightly below average maximum drawdown of 10.54 per cent but has had the fewest negative monthly periods (three).