The fund has a track record going back to 1998; Alex Ralph took on the management in 2014 and has delivered strong performance since then. The fund predominately holds bonds, but has a small weighting to equities to achieve a high level of income; currently 5.49% (although this has reduced recently).
The fund has a bias towards financials because Alex believes these yield more than corporates, and is certainly the space to inhabit now. As an example, Just Retirement has delivered a total return of 35% over the last 12 months. Financials have benefited the fund performance, as has high yield and specific stock selection.
Detractors to performance include IKKS, New Look, BT Equity and Centrica Equity. IKKS has rallied in recent weeks….read more