JPM Multi Manager Growth, Neptune Global Equity and F&C Global Thematic Opportunities are among the global funds that have turned their performance around in 2017, according to the latest FE Trustnet study.
In this ongoing series, we are looking at the one FE Crown-rated funds that sit in the bottom quartile of their respective sectors over the last 10-year period but have been top quartile performers over the year-to-date.
Having previously covered the long-term multi-asset laggards that have had a strong 2017, below we examine at the funds in the IA Global sector.
In upcoming articles, we will look at the long-term outperformers struggling in 2017 across a range of asset classes and Investment Association sectors.
Neptune Global Equity
First on the list is Robin Geffen’s £210m Neptune Global Equity fund, which has struggled over the last decade but has outperformed this year.
Deputy managers Ewan Thompson, George Boyd-Bowman and Ali Unwin contribute to the fund, which is a best ideas portfolio of between 40 and 60 stocks. The managers aim to identify global sectors with the best opportunities for growth.
The fund is most overweight technology, where it has a 35 per cent exposure including the likes of Amazon.com, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook as well as emerging market-focused stocks Tencent and Alibaba.com among its top 10 holdings.
Around 54 per cent of the portfolio is in the US while 20 per cent is invested in the emerging markets and 12.2 per cent in Japan, though the fund is unconcerned by the geographic location of its holdings.
The fund had an extremely strong start to life, returning 212.2 per cent between its launch and its peak in 2008 but was hit hard by the financial crisis of 2008/9 – falling 47.18 per cent from peak to trough.
As such, over the last decade the fund has underperformed, returning 51.99 per cent to investors while the MSCI World benchmark has returned 138.34 per cent and funds in the IA Global sector averaged a payout of 101.74 per cent.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over YTD
Source: FE Analytics
This year however the fund appears to be back on form, returning 17.7 per cent to investors – its first top quartile performance in a calendar year since 2010.
Neptune Global Equity has a a clean ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 0.87 per cent and is yielding 0.52 per cent
F&C Global Thematic Opportunities
Another on the list is the £48.5m F&C Global Thematic Opportunities fund, which is managed on a team basis.
The fund, which was launched in 1987, has struggled to keep pace with the wider market over the last 10 years, returning 86.1 per cent to investors while the IA Global sector average has returned 101.74 per cent.
It has not made a top quartile return in a calendar year over the last decade and has only managed second quartile performances in 2013 and 2007.
However, this year the fund in on course for its first top quartile performance in a calendar year over in the last 10 years, having returned 16.31 per cent year-to-date.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over YTD
Source: FE Analytics
The fund has a large weighting to industrials (28.7 per cent), financials (23.2 per cent) and technology (13.2 per cent) with Apple its largest individual holding.
F&C Global Thematic Opportunities has an OCF of 1.31 per cent.
Pictet Clean Energy
Another fund to outperform this year after a difficult decade is the $734m Pictet Clean Energy fund, run by Luciano Diana, Xavier Chollet and Christian Roessing.
The fund invests in clean energy stocks, adjusting its positioning based on the ‘purity’ of the stock to the sector i.e. the less related to a specific clean energy theme a stock is, the smaller the position.
Over the last decade the fund has returned 17.05 per cent to investors – the third worst performance in the IA Global sector – but has had a strong year, up 14.77 per cent in 2017 so far.
The fund has made more than 30 per cent returns in two years (2009 and 2013) while it has made losses in five calendar years over the period.
Some 47.6 per cent of the portfolio is weighted to stocks in the energy efficiency theme, 31.5 per cent in the enabling technologies theme and 12.9 per cent in renewables. It has an OCF of 1.2 per cent.
Pictet Clean Energy is on the FE Approved list, and the analysts noted: “Pictet is a pioneer in sustainable thematic investment and it likes to invest across all aspects of each megatrend.
“Its focus on specific, often under researched sectors provides investors with the unique opportunity to diversify through largely untouched investment areas.”
JPM Multi Manager Growth
Moving to the world of funds invested in investment trusts, the £411m JPM Multi Manager Growth fund run by Katy Thorneycroft, David Chan and Simin Li, also makes the list.
The fund is focused on global-focused companies with Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (6.9 per cent), Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (4.8 per cent) and Alliance Trust (4.5 per cent) its top three holdings.
Launched in 1937, JPM Multi Manager Growth has had a difficult decade, returning 81.88 per cent – one of the lowest in the sector.
This year it is on course for its first top quartile performance since 2010, having returned 15.19 per cent so far this year.
Performance of fund vs sector and benchmark over YTD
Source: FE Analytics
This is ahead of both the FTSE All Share Equity Investment Instruments benchmark and IA Global sector, as the above chart shows.
JPM Multi Manager Growth has a yield of 1.13 per cent and an OCF of 0.83 per cent.
M&G Fund of Investment Trust Shares
Another fund of trusts, the M&G Fund of Investment Trust Shares has also turned around its performance this year.
The £41m fund, run by Richard O'Connor and deputy manager Nigel Booth, aims to provide more capital growth and income than the FTSE All Share Equity Investments Instruments Index over any five-year period.
Its portfolio typically has around 60 holdings, which are shares of investment companies listed in the UK but that offer exposure to a wide range of international markets.
The largest holding is the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (5.1 per cent) with Monks Investment Trust (3.7 per cent) and Polar Capital Technology Trust (3.6 per cent) rounding out the top three.
Over the last decade the fund has returned 85.3 per cent – a bottom quartile performance in the IA Global sector – but so far in 2017 the fund has returned 21.83 per cent – a top quartile return.
If it ends the year in the top quartile, it will be the first year since 2010 that the fund has made a top quartile return in a calendar year.
M&G Fund of Investment Trust Shares has a yield of 0.42 per cent and an OCF of 1.31 per cent.