It is a high conviction fund with only the best ideas coming together under the umbrella of the fund
There are over 400 UK Equity Growth and Income Funds; providing investors with access to many different investment styles. So choosing the right fund depends upon understanding their methods and aims.
Performance is part of the equation but equally the management team is crucial. We have met a number of talented Fund Managers, the likes of Standard Life Investments, Neptune, Schroders, Legal and General, Threadneedle and Liontrust (not all of these are in our portfolios).
One challenge for investors is finding a fund which in theory can respond across the cycles, effectively a managed UK fund. The Franklin UK Managers’ Focus Fund is a fund which we feel does just that. It acts as a shop window for the Franklin UK Team by bringing together the four key managers and putting the best ideas from their funds into one single fund. Each manager can pick up to 10 stocks (with the exception of the small cap manager who can pick 20) and these are blended together in one fund.
This is a unique idea as investors don’t need to choose whether mid cap, large cap or small cap are going to do better because the fund is a multi-cap fund. It is a high conviction fund with only the best ideas coming together under the umbrella of the fund and although there are four managers they have an overseer who ensures that there are coherent ideas coming together in the portfolio and there is not too much weighting to one sector.
It is also a well-established fund, starting in 2006 under Rensburg and then in 2011 joining with Franklin. It has an impressive track record and we think may appeal to investors looking for a high conviction strategy irrespective of market cap.