By ADRIAN LOWCOCK 18/08/2009
The Gartmore European Absolute Return fund is one of our most highly rated funds. Having only been launched at the end of January 2009, we understand that the fund will shortly be closing to new investments. The fund size has been capped at £200 million to ensure it can respond to opportunities. Since our recommendation the fund has increased in size and today stands at £144 million.
The fund is managed by Roger Guy, who has over 15 years experience managing European equities running the Gartmore European Opportunities fund.
The Gartmore European Absolute Return fund aims to produce a positive absolute return over the long-term, regardless of market conditions. It will invest in companies based in Europe or who conduct a significant proportion of their business in the region. Whilst this is appealing, the fund can attain up to 200% gross exposure, meaning the fund can be geared. It is also Euro denominated and, whilst some of the currency exposure is hedged into sterling, there is an additional risk. Therefore this fund should be considered as higher risk and may not be suitable for everyone.
Performance so far has been encouraging, however six months is too short a time to properly judge performance of a fund, and as always past performance is not a guide to the future. We are familiar with Roger Guy’s management experience and have rated the fund five stars.
Reasons for investing
- Managed by Roger Guy, who has over 15 years of experience in the European equity market and a Bestinvest MRI rating of 100% over his career.
- The fund aims to produce positive absolute returns over the long-term, regardless of market conditions.
- A small fund can remain responsive, enabling Roger Guy to enhance performance of the fund.
- Available inside an ISA"_blank">ISA.
How you can invest
You can invest in the fund through Bestinvest on the Cofunds platform and place transactions online or please call one of our Advisers on 020 7189 9999 if you would like to discuss this further. Alternatively you can view our research.