While higher-profile names at the group such as Neil Woodford and Richard Smith also have a great record over the period, investors would have been better off backing the Latin America expert.
The manager has returned 403.76 per cent in the last decade, outperforming his peer group composite by 137.37 per cent, albeit with more volatility.
Performance of manager vs peer group over 10-yrs
Source: FE Analytics
While it is unfair to compare the managers as they have such a different investment universe, by point of reference Neil Woodford has returned 129.85 per cent in this time.
Newman beat emerging market expert Angus Tulloch and JPM Natural Resources manager Ian Henderson, who are the second and third best-performing managers over 10 years, with returns of 334.65 and 311.22 per cent respectively.
Newman owes most of this outperformance to his £407m Invesco Perpetual Latin America fund, which he has headed up since November 1994. The portfolio has returned a massive 446.29 per cent in the last decade, compared with returns of 435.28 per cent from its MSCI Emerging Market Latin America benchmark.
There are a number of funds that have added more value to their benchmark in the last 10 years; however, it should be noted that Invesco Perpetual Latin America is one of only a few that launched a Latin America fund into the UK retail market so early on.
There are only four other Latin America funds that have a 10-year track record in the unit trust and OEIC universe, and all have underperformed Newman’s vehicle. Ten similarly focused funds have been launched in the last decade.
Performance of funds over 10-yrs
| Name |
10-yr returns (%) |
| Invesco Perp Latin America |
446.29 |
| MSCI EM Latin America |
435.28 |
| Scot Wid Latin American |
416.18 |
| JPM Latin America Equity |
406.74 |
| Threadneedle Latin American |
383.49 |
| Baring Latin American |
321.29 |
Source: FE Analytics
While returns have remained strong, Newman’s portfolio has slightly lagged its benchmark over a five-year period. That said, over three years the fund has returned 103.02 per cent, outperforming its benchmark by 26.08 per cent.
In spite of a difficult period in the last year or so, the manager remains positive on the South American region, and particularly Brazil, which he says will be supported by the strong consumer story for many years to come. He has recently raised his exposure to the country, which now makes up 71.25 per cent of his portfolio, at the expense of Mexico.
Petrobras, Vale and Telefonica Brazil are all among the fund’s top-10 holdings.
Newman also co-manages the Invesco Perpetual Emerging Countries and Global Smaller Companies funds, since April 2007 and December 2010 respectively. Both have marginally underperformed their benchmark since Newman took over.