Robin McDonald, manager of Cazenove Multi Manager UK Growth
"JOHCM UK Opportunities is a concentrated, unconstrained UK large/upper-mid cap biased portfolio of high-quality businesses. Fund manager John Wood's current bias is towards strong balance sheets, low cyclicality of earnings and pricing power – characteristics that we believe will prove important over the short to medium term." JOHCM UK Opportunities is the biggest holding in McDonald’s Multi Manager UK Growth fund, with a 25.31 per cent weighting.
According to FE Analytics data, Wood’s fund has returned 42.38 per cent over a five-year period, outperforming its sector average and FTSE All Share benchmark by 22.24 per cent and 18.24 per cent respectively.
Graham Toone, manager of Margetts St Johns Realistic Core
"Throughout our portfolio, we look for diversification of investment styles. Whereas in the UK Equity Income sector we look at funds with a value style, in the UK All Companies sector we put more of an emphasis on growth-orientated strategies." "Nigel Thomas’s AXA Framlington UK Select Opps fund fits this bill very well. We’ve held it for a very long time, and it’s done very well for us."
"This is quite a large fund, so we have looked to complement it with a much smaller vehicle. We have recently been in talks with Marlborough, as we’re interested in adding the UK Leading Companies fund to the portfolio, managed by Giles Hargreaves. From a style perspective, we see this as the perfect addition."
According to FE Analytics, Marlborough UK Leading Companies and the £2.7bn AXA Framlington UK Select Opps fund are both top-quatile performers over one-, three- and five-year periods.
Kerry Nelson, managing director of Nexus IFA"I like Standard Life UK Equity Unconstrained, managed by Ed Legget."
"The portfolio is made up of the best ideas of all the managers at Standard Life. It may be a little left of field, but the strategy has worked very well and I’ve started adding it to my portfolio recently."
Mark Dampier, head of research at Hargreaves Lansdown
"I have to go with Standard Life UK Equity Unconstrained, which has had an excellent record for many years now, and Liontrust Special Situations. In both cases, it comes down to the value added by stock picking, and not being afraid to move away from the benchmark." "In my opinion, [manager of Liontrust Special Situations] Anthony Cross is one of the most underrated managers in the business."
Over a five-year period, Standard Life UK Equity Unconstrained and Liontrust Special Situations have returned 101.88 per cent and 84.71 per cent respectively. The average fund in the IMA UK All Companies sector has returned 20.14 per cent during this time.
Although Standard Life UK Equity Unconstrained has returned more than Liontrust Special Situations over three and five years, Cross’s vehicle is substantially less volatile.