Bestinvest says
This fund structure sought to address a market environment in which the manager believed broad market advances might be difficult to achieve, hence the more focused, unconstrained approach. The fund has comfortably achieved its performance objectives since launch, however it has at times been volatile. This has led some investors to label the manager a bull market investor, an accusation that we consider unfair given the manager's pragmatic approach to investment. We would argue periods of under performance are generally more event specific than style driven.
The fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of large and mid cap UK equities, but the manager does have the discretion to hold up to 20% of the Fund in cash and cash equivalents (short term UK gilts). Allocation to cash is determined within the context of stock selection and thematic positioning of the fund as a whole. The manager considers the attraction of an individual investment in its own right, the role the security would play in the portfolio as a whole and its impact on the aggregate characteristic, risk and thematic profile of the fund. He aims to add value through individual stock selection and through exploiting inefficient pricing of sector and thematic trends as well as through dynamic market timing. Thematic views need not necessarily reflect the state of the economic or market cycle and will never solely dictate investment decisions - underlying stocks must always be supported by strong fundamentals in their own right.