Investment Adviser articles from April 2004

Investment Adviser archives from April 2004

Threadneedle positive on outlook for Asia equities.
April 5, 2004... Managers of the AGBP200.2m Threadneedle Select Growth fund remain positive on Asia. The fund has fallen 16.9 per cent in the three years to 29 March, ranked 67 out of the 136 funds in the S&P Equity Global sector, according to Standard &...

Beagles' Hambro launch to use fees.
April 5, 2004... JO Hambro Capital Management will use performance fees on former Newton manager Clive Beagles' new equity income fund. Performance fees, as proposed by the Financial Services Authority in CP185, are used in hedge fund management and can...

Christows calls for calm over currency.
April 5, 2004... Offshore investors should remain calm at predictions that European currencies will underperform this year, according to Christows Fund Managers. Predictions from Credit Suisse Asset Management's Global Currency Group -- that the Japanese...

Strategist lashes out at funds' benchmarking.
April 5, 2004... A senior investment strategist has attacked the fund management industry for its use of "peer-relative" performance. Tim Price, strategist for wealth management group Ansbacher Wealth, has also criticised the industry for benchmarking its...

Investors failing to look at Asia -- IMA.
April 5, 2004... INVESTORS continued to adopt a parochial approach to their portfolios, with many still ignoring the success of Asian markets. According to figures from the Investment Managers Association, UK All Companies funds accounted for 25 per cent of...

Widows gives enhanced allocation on flexible bond.
April 5, 2004... SCOTTISH Widows has introduced a 1 per cent enhanced allocation on its Flexible Options Bond. The offer on the bond, which was launched in July 2002, is available from 1 April and is set to run for three months until 30 June. The...

Active funds lose out to cautious managed rivals.
April 5, 2004... UK active managed funds underperformed those in S&P's UK Balanced and Cautious Managed sectors at the start of this year. This was despite their larger weighting in equities, with equities continuing to outperform bonds. In its latest...

M&A activity prompts added interest in VCTs.
April 5, 2004... Increasing merger and acquisition activity among small companies is encouraging investment in venture capital trusts. Technology and media company activity within Berengea's ProVen VCT has encouraged investment into its AGBP2m top-up,...

Stock picking pays off for Ruffer's Inc.
April 5, 2004... A string of key asset allocation bets has brought large rewards, according to the manager of the Ruffer Income fund. The AGBP81m fund outperformed all other asset allocated funds thanks to three years of correct asset allocation decisions,...

Unicorn moves away from consumer debt.
April 5, 2004... Unicorn Asset Management has gone "drastically underweight" on sectors in the economy that could be prone to consumer debt. This will effect the AGBP12.3m Unicorn Free Spirit, AGBP10.8m Unicorn UK Smaller Companies fund and AGBP144.2m...

Call to clarify fund of hedge fund reporting.
April 5, 2004... AN influential European think-tank has proposed changes it claims would make fund of hedge funds easier to regulate. The Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre in France has suggested a method of "demystifying" the performance of...

Saving drops as more opt for housing, claims Mintel.
April 5, 2004... The percentage of disposable income that people save has almost halved in the last 10 years, according to Mintel. The annual Mintel report on British lifestyles, published last month, showed a shifting savings and investment landscape, with...

UK wealth gap widens -- DWP.
April 5, 2004... UK FIGURES from the DWP have shown a widening between rich and poor, but rising incomes among the least well off. Analysis of the Department of Work & Pensions figures by the Institute of Fiscal Studies showed that government steps in the...

Invesco European in dividend hope.
April 5, 2004... The board of the Invesco Perpetual European investment trust hopes to restart paying dividends at the end this financial year. The AGBP51.9m European investment trust, which announced its results last week, was unable to pay a dividend for...

Charges may hit Skandia's 32 bid.
April 5, 2004... SKANDIA's new Section 32 pension buy-out product is likely to struggle to attract business due to the charges. This is according to Patrick Connolly, investment manager of Marlow-based IFA John Scott & Partners, who claimed providers were...

IFAs cast doubt on Scot Eq's 'full advice' plans.
April 5, 2004... SCOTTISH Equitable's "full advice" pension could prove difficult to sell in the 1 per cent stakeholder world, according to IFAs. The provider has launched a personal pension for high net-worth investors which offers a flexible charging...

Equities may stall -- Rathbones.
April 5, 2004... Julian Chillingworth, chief investment officer for asset manager Rathbones, believes equity markets could stall. Global equities have taken a modest step back over the last few weeks undermined by mounting geopolitical risks. Mr...

Man, Close join for fund launch.
April 5, 2004... Alternative investment company Man Investments is launching a fund for UK retail investors with Close Fund Management. The joint fund venture, which aims to go live later this month, will invest in hedge fund style strategies specifically...

Isis decides to go organic.
April 5, 2004... Following a year of acquisitions and re-branding, Isis will focus on organic growth in 2004, according to Howard Carter. In his annual report to shareholders, on 25 March, the Isis Asset Management chief executive said the firm had...

Selestia to add more products.
April 5, 2004... SELESTIA is to add 60 funds to its platform and will test a new income producing tool. The fund supermarket has not revealed the funds' identity, but confirmed that in a few weeks the total number of funds available through its online...

Passing on the management baton.
April 5, 2004... Advertising budgets can be a useful indicator of a company's priorities and the six figures that Abbey has spent pushing its multi-manager service is a case in point. This outsourced approach to investment has long been touted as a growth...

Hargreaves to double IFA numbers.
April 5, 2004... Hargreaves Lansdown is to double its IFA numbers, recruiting from tied sales forces and expanding around the UK. Following the re-launch of the advisory arm in April 2003, the Bristol-based IFA is to take on an extra 29 advisers over the...

Limited Issue goes on equities buying spree.
April 5, 2004... by Tamsin Waghorn The Threadneedle UK Limited Issue fund swung back into equities last week and took a large bet on Arm Holdings. Mark Holden, manager of the AGBP29.3m fund, raised its cash exposure to 50 per cent the day after the...

Britannic's Ghiloni to leave after 21 years.
April 5, 2004... Francis Ghiloni is to leave Britannic Asset Management after 21 years, in search of a new career. Mr Ghiloni, sales and marketing director at Britannic, gave six months' notice in last week, for personal reasons. He said he had decided...

Witan makes move in to bonds and ups Asia.
April 5, 2004... The AGBP1.35bn Witan investment trust is set to diversify into additional asset classes and raise its exposure to Asia. Jim Horsburgh, chief executive of the investment trust, told shareholders at the trust's 96th annual general meeting...

Baillie 350 buys blue chip defensive stocks.
April 5, 2004... tobacco and cruise ships are strong contenders for the Baillie Gifford British 350 fund. Iain McCombie, manager of the AGBP141.5m fund, has been buying key FTSE100 defensives, as well as consumer-oriented products. His rationale is that...

UK income funds top in short term.
April 5, 2004... UK equity income funds beat UK equity and bond funds over the past three months, according to Standard & Poor's. The ratings agency claimed the outperformance was driven by UK equity income funds' exposure to UK smaller companies. The FTSE...

A phoenix from the tech boom's ashes.
April 5, 2004... Since Artemis' formation back in March 1997, the company has gone from strength to strength. In my view this is quite simply the best UK and European team in the industry today. Furthermore, being owner/managers of the business means that the...

Spring has sprung, as have managers.
April 5, 2004... Clearly, with the advent of spring, fund managers begin to get frisky. Like Mole from Wind in the Willows, they turn their snouts up at their existing dusty abodes and head off into the dawn of a new day. And so it is with Lazard's Simon...

Sharing the pain and the profits.
April 5, 2004... Earlier this year, the Financial Services Authority announced proposals to increase cost transparency in the retail funds market. Such a development is long overdue in our profession -- too often clients have been left paying a high price for...

Doubts arise on China's progress.
April 5, 2004... Fund of fund managers are growing wary on China, but the country is still attractive to New Star's Patrick Evershed. Rob Burdett, director of the Credit Suisse multi-manager and fund of funds division, said the team had been concerned for a...

I'm sorry I haven't a clue.
April 5, 2004... When investigating the correlation of fund charges and performance Standard & Poor's concluded: "No discernible patterns linking performance and management costs exists". From the retail investor's point of view, this is confusing. A higher...

Getting what you paid for.
April 5, 2004... If I walked into your office and said I can 100 per cent guarantee to improve the future performance of any fund into which you invest your clients' money and that the way to do this does not involve blackmailing the fund manager or other...

Drawing up a set of building regulations.
April 5, 2004... Investing in bricks and mortar has been one of the best ways to make money over the past three years. While equities have floundered amid falling markets, returns on property investments have surged. The average retail property fund has seen a...

Small businesses may become big business.
April 5, 2004... Stampede and bonanza are words that have not been much used in the context of the venture capital trust market over the past three years. Until, that is, the Chancellor of the Exchequer unveiled his Budget proposals on 17 March and...

Wraps will be music to the ears of IFAs.
April 5, 2004... Over the past 12 months, the concept of the wrap account and wrap services have become big news in the UK market. A combination of several players entering the market with wrap like offerings, major regulatory changes proposed by the Financial...

Asia drives outperformance.
April 5, 2004... The Global Emerging Markets sector has soundly beaten the rest of the world in performance terms over the major time periods in the past few years. For the 12 months to 29 March, the Standard & Poor's/Citi BMI Emerging Markets index rose 52.3...

Bull markets coincide with US elections.
April 5, 2004... Are the gyrations of the global equity market all caused by the US presidential cycle? It is an intriguing idea, with at least a modicum of plausibility behind it. Jeremy Grantham of US fund manager GMO highlighted the numbers when he...

Higher the gain, higher the risk.
April 5, 2004... With the improvement in the global economy over the past year and an increased risk appetite among investors, the Equity Global Emerging Markets sector has been given a new lease of life. This has been justified in the superior returns of this...

Transfer of Higher Income will be smooth -- Newton.
April 5, 2004... The transfer of the AGBP1.4bn Newton Higher Income fund to Tineke Frikee will be "seamless", according to Newton's Jeff Munroe. Ms Frikee is taking control of the fund following the surprise resignation of Clive Beagles. She was previously...

Dalgliesh steers fund to steady returns.
April 5, 2004... The AGBP82.77m Gartmore Emerging Markets Opportunities fund was launched in February 1987 and is jointly run by Philip Ehrmann and Peter Dalgliesh. Mr Ehrmann, who started at Gartmore in 1995, joined the fund in July 2003, replacing Chris...

China and India to drive future growth.
April 5, 2004... Global emerging markets could prove to be the stars of 2004 if current economic forecasts come good. According to David Gait, senior analyst with First State Investment's global emerging markets team, growth prospects in the region dwarf those...

Templeton aims for UK growth.
April 5, 2004... The Templeton UK Equity fund, launched on 15 March, is part of a wider expansion by Franklin Templeton Investments into specialised single country focus funds. Martin Cobb, fund manager of the new UK equity fund, said over the past few...

Aggressive Australian fund outperforms in first year.
April 5, 2004... by shaista Ahmed The AGBP22.37m MLC Cautious Balanced Portfolio, launched on 7 April 2003, was part of a range of new funds by MLC, which expanded its existing diversified fund range. MLC, owned by National Australia Group, has been...

Lazard shelves launch plan as Roberts quits.
April 5, 2004... Lazard's loss of its head of UK equities has stalled the company's plans for a further fund launch within this area. Simon Roberts, co-manager on the Lazard UK investment desk, has left to join the hedge fund industry. Mr Roberts, head...

Insight positive on future for UK equity market.
April 5, 2004... Insight is positive about the future of the UK equity market. Philip Barleggs, head of asset allocation at Insight, predicted a reasonably balanced economy with few serious problems. He said: "Earnings growth and positive investor...

South Korean small-caps form focus of Fabien fund.
April 5, 2004... ALTERNATIVE investment specialist Fabien Pictet & Partners has launched a fund focusing on South Korean small and medium-sized companies. The Three Kingdoms Korea absolute return fund, the fifth fund to be launched by the specialist...

Deposit-free property purchase.
April 5, 2004... Urban Exposure has launched a deposit bond for investors wanting to finance property investments. The property-investment company is offering a product for investors that buy property before it is built. Normally the builder would...

Recovery to slow to an easier pace.
April 5, 2004... GLOBAL economic recovery will move to a more sustainable pace, according to the chief economist at Barclays Global Investors. Fears over terrorist attacks along with a fall in bond yields and a slowing of the US economic recovery had led...

Think about assets in drawdowns, says Bureau.
April 5, 2004... ASSET allocation should be more prominent in the purchase of investment-linked annuities and income drawdown, says the Annuity Bureau. Peter Quinton, managing director of the Annuity Bureau, said as a growing number of investors pulled out...

With profits fall and rules switch ends SL's mutuality.
April 5, 2004... SHRINKING with profits business plus new regulations on covering risk has persuaded Standard Life's to end mutual status. The Edinburgh-based provider announced plans to pursue a stock market flotation and axe 1000 jobs from its life and...

Matrix to buy GLE Development Capital.
April 5, 2004... Alternative investment specialist Matrix is expanding its private equity capability with the acquisition of GLE Development Capital. Subject to approval from the FSA, Matrix will merge the company with its own private equity business to...

Le Saout to take reins of four Pioneer sub funds.
April 5, 2004... FUND manager Pioneer Investment has appointed Tanguy Le Saout as lead portfolio manager for four European fixed income sub funds. Mr Le Saout takes charge of the AGBP6.7bn Pioneer Euro Bond, the AGBP1.3bn Pioneer Mix 1, the AGBP5.4bn...

IT is key to brave new world of wraps.
April 5, 2004... Over the course of the past year, much has been written regarding wrap accounts and how they might benefit adviser businesses in the UK. However, there is a key point, which has almost been forgotten among the visions of what a wrap service...

Companies celebrate a successful Isa season.
April 5, 2004... Fund managers such as Fidelity, First State and Liontrust have described this year's Isa season as a success. There had been talk that the traditional Isa season had become a relic, but figures from Liontrust suggest that, at least in some...

manager comment.
April 5, 2004... Our investment process is a combination of top-down and bottom-up and is applicable through all economic cycles. We are continually searching for companies who can deliver unexpected earnings growth. I feel we have expertise in identifying...

Government stands firm on Isa limit cut.
April 5, 2004... The government is sticking to its guns over its proposals to lower Isa limits. It is ignoring calls from across the financial services industry and the Treasury Committee and ploughing ahead with plans to cut the Isa limit to AGBP5000 from...

Surveys slam investors' fund performance savvy.
April 5, 2004... Investors are lazy and ignorant when it comes to their Isa investments, two independent surveys have claimed. Some 16 per cent of Isa investors never look at their fund performance and one in three does not bother changing underperforming...

A fairer method to assess the charges.
April 5, 2004... "Money-management firms operating mutual funds want to maximise their profits through fees provided by the funds, but the fees, of course, paid to these firms reduce the returns to fund investors." These are not the words of a disgruntled...

CSAM Return roll out seeks flexibility.
April 12, 2004... Credit Suisse Asset Manage-ment will launch a fixed income fund called the Credit Suisse Target Return fund on 14 April. The UK-domiciled fund will be a Ucits III vehicle and will use the flexible rules of this new legislation by investing...

Base rate rise predicted for May.
April 12, 2004... Economists at asset managers said a base rate rise in May was almost inevitable after it was left on hold last Thursday. As a result, they are expecting consumers to react more negatively to interest rate changes and warned the next...

Scot Eq cuts charges on core funds.
April 12, 2004... SCOTTISH Equitable International has cut management charges by 0.5 percentage points on its private client portfolio fund range. The Dublin-based investment house said the move was part of its new charging structure. Scottish Equitable...

RSM finds hidden gems in Europe.
April 12, 2004... Mid-caps have dominates a new report that looks at uncovering any undervalued European stocks. Accountancy and business advice firm RSM International has identified what it believes are the top 50 hidden gems in the European stock market....

Isis expects a flying start for second property trust.
April 12, 2004... ISIS Asset Management has announced the go-ahead for plans to launch a second property trust. The Isis Property Trust 2 is expected to be about GBP50m larger than the first was at launch, with some GBP171m under management. Shares in...

MSCI makes bid for risk systems firm Barra.
April 12, 2004... IndEX provider MSCI is to acquire risk management systems company Barra, whose risk engines are used by many fund managers. Under the terms of the merger, Morgan Stanley Capital International's majority shareholder Morgan Stanley will...

Actively only just ahead of their passive counterparts.
April 12, 2004... ADVISERS continue to champion actively managed funds despite research claiming a negligible difference between their performance against their passive counterparts. In its sixth annual report, investment performance evaluation consultancy...

Canada Life spurns cash in favour of global equity.
April 12, 2004... Fund managers at Canada Life have gone cold on cash in expectation of global equity outperformance. In their latest quarterly asset mix meeting, the international equity fund managers at Canada Life moved cash to the bottom of their...

New Star pushes new stars.
April 12, 2004... New Star is pushing three up and coming managers to IFAs and portfolio managers this May. The three - Guy de Blonay, Jamie Allsopp and James Ridgewell - have been running non-core mandates for the asset management house. As part of...

Japan's strength wins global funds' backing.
April 12, 2004... Japan is expected to continue to be the main driver for global outperformance as global funds of funds managers look east. Craig Heron, fund manager on New Star's Global and Perform Portfolios, said they would continue to be overweight in...

Small-caps come out tops except in the UK.
April 12, 2004... Small companies came top across the asset classes of global funds measured by fund data provider Lipper. This was the case in Japan, Europe and North America. The exception was the UK, where small company funds have already had a good run....

Woolwich protected plan linked to FTSE growth.
April 12, 2004... Woolwich Plan Managers is to launch a FTSE-linked structured product which investors can cash in early. Under the terms of the Woolwich Capital & Growth plan, returns are linked to the performance of the FTSE100, with investors receiving...

Morley property fund to cash in on new rules.
April 12, 2004... Morley is to incorporate tracker and property fund rule changes into its products, ahead of proposed greater flexibility. The development team at Morley Fund Management met last week to decide potential changes to its range, following...

Luxuries cushion China economy.
April 12, 2004... Over-zealous lending by local banks, coupled with scepticism about two initial public offerings, Tom Online and Semiconductor Manufacturing International in the US, fuelled fears that the Chinese economy may have overheated. But Philip...

Oil prices revised up as Opec retrenches.
April 12, 2004... Commodity managers have upwardly revised their expectations for oil prices in 2004, as non-Opec production faltered in 2003. Outlooks from asset managers Schroder and DWS said that lower petrol stocks were driving higher oil prices, with...

Financials fund woos FoF firms.
April 12, 2004... Managers of the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Portfolio are pitching their fund to multi-managers. The GBP7m fund celebrated its third anniversary last week with the firm hoping its track record will impress fund of funds managers. ...

S&F creates retail class for its Model Portfolio.
April 12, 2004... Singer & Friedlander Investment Management is to offer a retail share class on its Model Portfolio fund. S&F said it did not mark a strategic move back to becoming a retail fund house, but gave investors access to a full valuation service...

Fidelity is Skandia's best seller.
April 12, 2004... FIDELITY'S Special Situations fund was the Isa 2004 season favourite on Skandia's supermarket platform. The GBP3.3bn fund took GBP2.35m in March, more than double the contributions of its nearest rival, the Liontrust First Income fund. ...

Pick up in US labour boosts equity markets.
April 12, 2004... Long-awaited healthy data on the US labour market should boost US equity markets but bonds may come under pressure. For many economists, months of worries over the so-called "jobless recovery" came to an end when the Labor Department...

Fund business set for more growth: survey.
April 12, 2004... Fund management firms witnessed a growth in business volumes and hired more staff in the first quarter of 2004, reports a survey. The new report, published by the CBI and PricewaterhouseCoopers, questioned 96 companies in the financial...

Pimco warns of dangers of buying into treasuries.
April 12, 2004... Bill Gross, managing director of US bond specialist Pimco, has urged investors to buy anything but treasuries in his latest investment outlook. Mr Gross said that investors should be careful in choosing countries where they hold bonds, to...

British bosses grow confident on growth.
April 12, 2004... Heads of British companies are increasingly positive about their growth prospects, according to SG Asset Management. They are much more optimistic than the stock market, says SGAM, which has signalled a buying opportunity. Hugh...

Advisers must take more encouraging role - JPMF.
April 12, 2004... ADVISERS should be encouraging investors to take an active role in their choice of asset classes. According to JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management, one in four investors have never reviewed the mix of assets in their portfolio. In the...

Pimco gets green light on Global.
April 12, 2004... Pimco has received approval for the distribution of its Dublin-based funds, the Global Investors Series, in the UK. However, since GIS is an umbrella fund without distributor status, retail investors will still have to take the offshore...

FSA fines Grenfell GBP190,000.
April 12, 2004... MORGAN Grenfell & Co Ltd has been fined GBP190,000 for failing to act in a customer's best interests. The wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank was handed the fine for breaching Financial Services Authority principles. The FSA ruled...