magazine archive
magazine archive
Funds
Nutshell was beating Fundsmith until both were hit by market sell-off
Thursday 27 Jan 2022A little-known global equity fund called Nutshell Growth (BLP46Q1) last year gave Fundsmith Equity Fund (B41YBW7) , one the most popular investments among UK retail investors, a good run for its money in terms of performance. Between 1 January and 15 December 2021, Nutshell returned 27.9% versus 20...
The best performing European small cap funds
Thursday 20 Jan 2022Investing in smaller companies often involves greater risk and volatility with the promise of higher rewards, and this perhaps explains why there is a significant disparity between the winners and losers in the European small cap funds space. There’s no disputing the star performer and it comes...
The top performing European funds and trusts
Thursday 13 Jan 2022The performance of the top Europe (ex-UK) funds is proof that the European equity market offers a multitude of opportunities for active investors to acquire overlooked and undervalued growth companies. The BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust ( BRGE ) is a £676 million fund with two co-...
Eight fund and trust picks for different types of investors
Thursday 23 Dec 2021Ryan Hughes , head of investment research at AJ Bell, picks eight funds and investment trusts with different risk levels covering bonds, global equities, infrastructure, healthcare and dividends. Cautious investors: Personal Assets Inve stment Trust ( PNL ) 5-year annualised return: 6.68% (source:...
Why machines beat managers in 2021
Thursday 23 Dec 20212021 has been a pretty grim year for active managers, with passive funds ruling the roost and delivering better returns for investors on average. AJ Bell’s latest Manager versus Machine report shows that only a third of active equity funds, 34% to be precise, beat a passive alternative this year...
The most consistent top performing Asian funds
Thursday 09 Dec 2021Consistency in performance is a very useful quality for a fund or investment trust to have, as this translates into the kind of steady returns which can really boost investors’ wealth. Shares has screened the funds and trusts universe to identify Asian-focused collectives which have been top...
How Lindsell Train ran out of steam
Thursday 09 Dec 2021It’s been a tough year for investors in Lindsell Train funds. What’s made significant underperformance this year particularly painful is that investors simply aren’t used to it, given the exceptional track record of the two lead managers, Nick Train and Michael Lindsell. The previous gains made by...
Generous yields from top Asian income funds
Thursday 02 Dec 2021A silver lining of the weak performance of Asian stocks in 2021 is it has pushed up dividend yields. This is reflected in the yields available from UK-domiciled Asian income funds, some of which are running at 6%-plus. The top performing fund on a three-year view is Schroder Asian Income Z Acc (...
Tough year for China funds but longer term many have soared
Thursday 25 Nov 2021The past year’s performance for China-focused funds and investment trusts in general has been disappointing, yet the longer-term track record is quite the opposite. The average return from China open-ended funds over the past 12 months is -3.6%, according to FE Fundinfo. That reflects a regulatory...
Best performing Japan funds and investment trusts
Thursday 18 Nov 2021Fidelity Japan Trust ( FJV ) has the best five-year performance of all Japan-focused investment trusts and funds. It generated a 150.9% total return, which encompasses share price gains and dividends. In comparison, the MSCI Japan index returned 46.7% over the same five-year period, being one of...