Fidelity have appointed Tom Ewing as manager of their UK Growth fund. He replaces Carlos Moreno, who had run the fund since January 2006. Ewing has been with the group as an analyst since 2000 but became a portfolio manager in 2007 and has been running a pilot portfolio since April. Fidelity say that under his management the fund is likely to be relatively concentrated, with around 45-50 stocks, and to have a bias towards large and mid sized companies.
Meanwhile Aruna Karunathilake has replaced Mark Hodges on Fidelity’s UK Aggressive fund. Karunathilake joined Fidelity from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in 2000 and worked as an analyst before moving into portfolio management in 2006. Fidelity describe him as a bottom up stock picker, focused on finding mis-priced stocks whose fundamental prospects are not reflected in their valuation.
Both Moreno and Hodges will remain with Fidelity and will now focus on their other mandates.
As was previously announced, Sanjeev Shah will succeed fund management legend Anthony Bolton on Fidelity Special Situations from the start of January.
Recommendation
Neither Fidelity UK Growth nor Fidelity UK Aggressive are currently rated by Bestinvest, and with neither Ewing nor Karunathilake having a track record they do not qualify for a rating. Holders should switch to one of our rated UK funds, such as Artemis Capital, AXA Framlington UK Select Opportunities or Merrill Lynch UK Dynamic.