Of the 15 HBOS funds in the unit trust and OEIC universe, six – including Chris Fontenla’s Halifax UK Equity Income portfolio – have suffered mass outflows in the last year. In total, 69 open-ended funds have lost more than £100m of investors’ cash.
Halifax UK Growth has seen the biggest decline, with outflows of £432m. Including the impact of performance, the fund’s total assets under management (AUM) have fallen from £4bn to £3.5bn since November 2010.
Three HBOS funds – Halifax UK Growth, Halifax Cautious Managed and Halifax UK FTSE All Share Tracker – feature in the list of 20 funds with the biggest outflows in the entire open-ended universe.
Outflows from Halifax and Schroders funds over 1-yr
| Fund | Outflows (£m) |
| Halifax UK Growth | 432 |
| Halifax Cautious Managed | 291 |
| Schroder Income | 284 |
| Schroder UK Mid 250 | 272 |
| Halifax UK FTSE All Share Tracker | 265 |
| Halifax UK Equity Income | 250 |
| Schroder Inst. Index Linked Bond | 241 |
| Halifax Corporate Bond | 226 |
| Halifax International Growth | 180 |
| Schroder Gilt & Fixed Interest | 139 |
| Schorder Corporate Bond | 101 |
Source: FE Analytics
Second to Halifax is Schroders, which has five funds with outflows of more than £100m in the last year. According to FE Analytics data, the biggest loser of assets has been Kevin Murphy and Nick Kirrage’s Schroder Income fund, which has shrunk from £1.51bn to £1.08bn overall.
While all five funds have failed to beat their benchmark over a three-year period, the Schroder UK Mid 250 fund is the stand-out underperformer. Andy Brough’s £1.2bn vehicle has underperformed its FTSE 250 index over one, three and six months, as well as one, three, five and 10 years.
Performance of funds vs benchmark over 10-yrs
| Name | 6m (%) | 1yr (%) | 3yr (%) | 5yr (%) | 10yr (%) |
| Schroder UK Mid 250 | -16.58 | -7.21 | 50.84 | -17.4 | 113.56 |
| FTSE 250 Index (ex IT) | -13.94 | -3.43 | 88.55 | 9.96 | 136.88 |
| Schroder Income | -14.28 | -9.17 | 37.62 | 4.28 | 82.74 |
| FTSE All Share | -6.52 | -2.16 | 49.53 | 5.98 | 57.77 |
Source: FE Analytics
Although the Schroder Income fund has outperformed its FTSE All Share benchmark over 10 years, its record in the last five years has deteriorated.
The six Halifax funds have also fallen short, with only Halifax Cautious Managed outperforming its sector and benchmark over three years. The Halifax UK Growth and International Growth funds have been particularly disappointing, significantly underperforming their respective benchmarks over one-, three- and five-year periods.
Performance of funds vs benchmark over 5-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Halifax UK FTSE All Share Tracker has also underperformed. Although its objective is to replicate the All Share index, it has returned around 11 per cent less over a three-year period and 7 per cent less over five years.
This is not to say that all funds under the management of Schroders and HBOS have had a poor run. A recent FE Trustnet study revealed that Schroders has more top-10 performers across the board than any other investment house.