The three-year anniversary of a fund is seen as a milestone in the UK market for retail funds. Any shorter track record and the fund is unlikely to get a look-in from either IFAs or intermediary networks focused on compiling best performer lists.
S&W Frontier, Lazard Global Equity Income, Threadneedle American Extended Alpha and PSigma American Growth were all launched in October 2007, just at the time when stock market indices such as the FTSE 100 and S&P 500 had hit a high before tumbling all the way to the spring of 2009.
Funds turning three
| Fund | Sector | Launch date | Return since launch % |
| S&W Frontier | Global Growth | 05/10/2007 | 5.01 |
| First State Global Listed Infrastructure | Specialist | 08/10/2007 | 11.51 |
| Lazard Global Equity Income | Global Equity Income | 22/10/2007 | 1.1 |
| Threadneedle American Extended Alpha | Global Growth | 22/10/2007 | 17.05 |
| PSigma American Growth | North America | 22/10/2007 | -2.99 |
Source: Financial Express Analytics. Data to 7 October
The IMA North America and Global Growth sectors have had a volatile three years, battling poor economic data and a recessionary growth environment, but both have moved largely in line with the FTSE and FTSE All Share indices, according to Financial Express.
In fact, an investor putting money into both sector averages would have received higher returns than an investment in either index over three years, while taking on a similar amount of volatility – between 19 and 20.3 per cent.
Sectors vs indices over 3-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
The Psigma fund, is the worst performing vehicle over the past three years; it underperformed its IMA North America sector, making a loss of close to 3 per cent, while the sector averaged a small return of 2.4 per cent. Threadneedle's American Extended Alpha, meanwhile, was one of the best performers in the sector, returning 17.5 per cent to investors.
Run by Stephen Moore, the fund has well known brands like Apple and Wal-Mart in its top holdings. Its highest sector weighting is in information technology. The Threadneedle fund is also a lower risk investment than both the Psigma fund and the sector as a whole. It has a volatility score of 23.5 per cent for the three year period.
Performance of Global Growth funds vs sector since launch
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Within the Global Growth funds, the S&W Frontier is the better performer, but both it and Lazard Global Equity Income have outperformed the sector in the three years since launch. The sector has lost investors 0.4 per cent.
Looking forward it is interesting to note the performance of the First State Global Listed Infrastructure fund. Governments in the West may be looking to squeeze spending on infrastructure projects to balance the books, but this has not stopped the fund from being heavily invested in Europe ex-UK. The UK's National Grid and Germany's E.On are among the biggest single holdings in the portfolio. Transportation is also a key sector as its exposure to Japan shows, with Central Japan Railway making up 3.8 per cent of the portfolio.
Manager Peter Meany has outperformed his peers according to data for the three-year period. Direct comparisons with other funds in its sector are more difficult as it is in the IMA Specialist sector. Nonetheless, the fund has made its returns at the same time as keeping volatility in check - it is first quartile in its sector on this basis. Overall the returns put it in the sector's third quartile.