In an otherwise mediocre month for three-year anniversary funds, both vehicles outperformed their respective sector average by more than 26 per cent.
Performance of funds vs sector over 3-yrs
| Fund | Sector |
Returns relative to sector (%) |
| Jupiter Strategic Bond | Sterling Strategic Bond | 26.36 |
| JOHCM UK Dynamic | UK All Companies | 26.09 |
| Franklin Templeton Global Total Return Bond | Global Bonds | 15.22 |
| Baillie Giff Emerging Markets Bond | Global Bonds | 2.45 |
| Franklin Templeton Strategic Bond | Sterling Strategic Bond | -4.33 |
| Aviva Inv Asia Pacific Property | Property | -8.94 |
| Skandia Alternative Investments | Absolute Return | -9.4 |
| Investec Africa & Middle East | Specialist | N/A |
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Ariel Bezalel’s £408m Jupiter Strategic Bond fund tops the list with returns of 46.06 per cent over three years. The average fund in its IMA Sterling Strategic Bond sector only returned 19.73 per cent over this period, although Bezalel’s vehicle has been around 2.5 per cent more volatile.
Trustnet Alpha Manager Alex Savvides' JOHCM UK Dynamic fund has returned 40.77 per cent since it was launched in June 2008, compared with 14.68 per cent from the average IMA UK All Companies fund.
Performance of funds vs sectors over 3-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Franklin Templeton Global Total Return Bond and Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Bond have outperformed their IMA Global Bonds sector by 15.22 and 2.45 per cent respectively. However, both are substantially more volatile than their sector average.
The performance of Investec Africa & Middle East, which has returned 12.31 per cent since inception, is more difficult to measure. The fund sits in the IMA Specialist sector, and has no official benchmark.
Manager Roelof Horne would count JPM Africa Equity and Fidelity Emerging Europe Middle East Africa as his biggest competitors. Both funds have substantially outperformed Investec Africa & Middle East, albeit with more volatility.
The biggest margin of underperformance relative to sector has come from Skandia Alternative Investments. The £63.9m fund, which sits in the Absolute Return sector, has lost investors 0.2 per cent since it was launched three years ago.
By definition, an absolute return vehicle is supposed to break even at the very minimum, regardless of market condition.
The average Absolute Return fund has returned 9.29 per cent in the same period, with slightly lower volatility.
Although John Beck’s Franklin Templeton Strategic Bond has underperformed IMA Sterling Strategic Bond by more than three per cent since inception, it has been vastly less volatile than its sector, and lost less money in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009.
Performance of fund vs sector over 3-yrs
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Daniel McDonald’s £176.7m Aviva Investments Asia Pacific Property fund has the second highest assets under management (AUM) of any fund set to attain a three-year track record this month.
After strong performance in the third and fourth quarter of 2008, the fund has struggled to match the performance of the average IMA Property fund. McDonald’s product is also more volatile than its sector over three years.