By STEPHEN MARRIOTT 15/05/2008
This fund has been experiencing a tough time during the last twelve months, which has resulted in it underperforming the FTSE All Share by 12% (12m to 30 April 08). This is a concern as it aims to be more of a core large cap fund.
The main problem seems to be that SmartGARP, the investment process which primarily drives returns, is proving to be less reliable in the UK market, where the opportunity set is smaller - some 70% of the fund’s portfolio is invested in FTSE 100 stocks. We have reduced the fund’s rating to two stars.