Bestinvest says
At one time this was one of the cheapest FTSE All Share tracker funds. However, it has now been superseded by lower cost trackers. Consider Fidelity Moneybuilder UK Index, which has a much lower total expense ratio.
This fund uses a combination of replication and some sampling techniques to track the FTSE All-Share Index. The approach is to replicate all the stocks within the FTSE All-Share Index so that each is represented at its appropriate weight. In this instance some 90% of the constituents of the FTSE All Share Index is held within the fund. Quantitative techniques are then used within a computer model to identify the key drivers of the FTSE All-Share's performance, i.e. sector, size, yields etc. The manager then applies certain controls to the model in order to identify a portfolio of stocks that sufficiently matches these characteristics and thus avoids the necessity to purchase all constituent stocks. This thus avoids holding some of the less liquid or smallest companies listed in the index, which may be more difficult to trade - often a "basket" approach is adopted within the more niche industries.