fund
Fidelity Funds Flexible Bond A GBP
An actively managed portfolio of investment grade corporate and government bonds.
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35.60p
Price (Inc)
These are the shares in the fund that pay out an income to clients. The income is made up of the total dividends – the money a company can pay out to its investors – from the companies in the fund.
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Price (Acc)
These are the shares in the fund that don’t pay out an income to clients. Any dividends – the money a company can pay out to its investors – are reinvested into companies in the fund. Despite no income, the shares should be worth more over time. Good incentive, eh?
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3.50% 0.00%
Initial chargeSome funds charge you when you first invest, which is aptly known as the initial charge. They’re usually between 3-5% but at Bestinvest, we usually don’t charge you a penny!
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0.75%
Annual management charge
This is how much the fund management company charges to run the fund. It’s like paying a babysitter, dog sitter or house sitter (that makes well-informed, heavily researched changes to improve your baby/dog/house when needed).
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1.15%
Ongoing charges
This stands for Ongoing Charges Figure. It’s the cost of running a fund and includes admin fees, manager fees, administration costs, etc.
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1.40%
Yield
How much the fund is currently paying out in income to investors. It’s NOT to be confused with the overall growth of a fund – a very different thing indeed. It’s also NOT a guarantee of future pay-outs, just a snapshot. This is more what it’s not than what it is…
This fund seeks a high level of current income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in UK gilts and sterling denominated investment grade corporate bonds. Although the fund aims to outperform the BoA ML Sterling Large Cap index, the manager retains a degree of flexibility to invest in high yield corporate bonds and asset backed securities. Whilst there is a bias to sterling debt securities, euro and USD denominated bonds may be held and this non sterling currency exposure will be hedged. Bonds issued by major governments and companies will be more stable than those issued by emerging markets or smaller corporate issuers; in the event of an issuer experiencing financial difficulty, there may be a risk to some or all of the capital invested. Any historical or current yields quoted should not be considered reliable indicators of future performance.
Fund summary
| Sector | |
| Structure | OFFSHORE FUND |
| Launched | November, 1990 |
| Size | £309m |
| Yield | 1.40% |
| Charging basis | Income |
| Dividends paid | Feb, May, Aug, Nov |
Charges
| Standard initial charge | 3.50% |
| Initial charge via Bestinvest | 0.00% |
| Additional bid/offer spread | 0.00% |
| Annual management charge | 0.75% |
| Ongoing charges figure | 1.15% |
Allocation
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Investment process
The investment process is driven by a team effort at Fidelity including credit and quantitative analysts and led by the portfolio manager Ian Spreadbury. In-house research includes fundamental credit analysis, quantitative modelling and macroeconomic research. The investment process generates returns by focusing on five fixed income strategies, adding value through asset allocation (gilt or non-gilt), sector and quality allocation (industry and credit rating), yield curve strategy and individual stock selection. Derivative instruments including interest rate and inflation swaps, credit default swaps and currency forwards are used to enable hedging of unwanted risk.
The fund is run by one of the most respected fund managers in the peer group with a proven track record across market cycles. The fund is managed with a view to delivering outperformance relative to the peer group, consequently the broader performance characteristics of the fund are unlikely to deviate substantially from those of the broader asset class.
Manager research
Average monthly relative returns
- 15/16 0.00%
- 16/17 0.00%
- 17/18 0.00%
- 18/19 0.00%
- 19/20 0.22%
Bestinvest MRI
- 3 years 0.00%
- 5 years 0.00%
- Career 0.19%
- 3 years 0.00%
- 5 years 0.00%
- Career 0.00%
Performance figures are based on the average of monthly percentage returns relative to the benchmark index.
Claudio Ferrarese / Tim Foster
Foster joined Fidelity in 2003 as a Quantitative Analyst and progressed to become a Portfolio Manager in 2007. Foster has a BA, MSci in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder. Ferrarese joined Fidelity in 2006 as part of the quantitative research team. Ferrarese is portfolio manager at Fidelity International and has co-manager responsibility for the company’s total return franchise.
Track record
The track record of Claudio Ferrarese / Tim Foster in managing mutual funds in this sector is still too short for us to draw any meaningful conclusions and so our assessment is based largely on qualitative aspects.
Periods of worst performance
| Absolute | -6.00% (February 2020 - March 2020) |
| Relative | -1.00% (May 2019 - July 2019) |
About the MRI
Our unique indicator: the Bestinvest Manager Record Index (MRI) measures the likelihood that the fund manager is adding value through their decisions. It is based on their performance record over the course of their career, adjusted for the amount of risk taken. MRI is an important contributor to our fund rating system but it is also vital to take account of qualitative factors. It is also very important to select funds to form a cohesive portfolio with an appropriate overall risk level.
Allocation
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Top 10 holdings
| as at 30.06.13 % TNA |
| UK GILT 2.25% 07/03/2014 9.6% |
| UK GILT 4.25% 07/03/2036 6.2% |
| UK GILT 4.25% 07/12/2055 5.6% |
| UK TREASURY 6% 7/12/2028 5.6% |
| UK GILT 3.75% 07/09/2019 4.9% |
| UK GILT 5% 07/03/2025 4.9% |
| UK TREASURY WAR LOAN 3.5% PERPETUAL 3.2% |
| UK GILT 4.25% 07/06/2032 2.6% |
| UK GILT 4.5% 07/09/2034 2.1% |
| UK GILT 3.5% 2/07/2068 1.6% |
Portfolio
Approximately 230 holdings. Maximum 10% unhedged foreign currency exposure.
Constraints
The fund should have a maximum 5% exposure to high yield. There are no maximum % portfolio weighting for investment grade corporate bonds, gilts or cash although the team aim to be fully invested at all times.
Key Investor Information