Investment Adviser articles from March 2005

Investment Adviser archives from March 2005

Cornelian to bring Oeic to market.
March 7, 2005... Cornelian Asset Managers, the new name for Noble Asset Managers, will target the retail market with the launch of an Oeic. The name Cornelian has been adopted to avoid any confusion with Noble Group products as the company expands into the...

Baillie High Yield sees assets drop by AGBP50m.
March 7, 2005... Baillie Gifford's top-performing High Yield Bond fund lost more than 60 per cent of assets over the past year after institutional money was placed into other funds. Over the past year, the fund saw its size dramatically decrease from...

Ridgewell rises due to mid, small-caps.
March 7, 2005... New Star's James Ridgewell claimed corporate activity in mid- and small-caps pushed his fund into the 334-strong UK Equity sector's top 10. Having been given the management brief of the AGBP6.1m UK Special Situations fund, which was opened...

Gartmore US Focus looking for themes.
March 7, 2005... Gartmore's small US Focus fund is seeking stocks with strong projections and good order rates, according to manager Chris Baggini. Mr Baggini, manager of the AGBP2.8m US Focus fund, is touting smaller companies, such as aerospace product...

Cordea to offer residential access.
March 7, 2005... The wealth management division of Cordea Savills is to give investors the opportunity to access residential property with the launch of its Diversified Residential Opportunities fund. The new subsidiary's first fund, to be based in the...

Management fees on the up, claims Fitzrovia study.
March 7, 2005... ResearchER Fitzrovia has reported a substantial increase in the average management fees for Luxembourg-based funds over one and three years. The increase was indication that fund management groups should consider economies of scale and the...

Skandia goes large on Schroder.
March 7, 2005... The manager of managers fund product has seven portfolios containing between three and six funds, namely UK, US, Europe, Japan and Far East Equity as well as UK and Global Fixed interest. The Schroder funds to be included are the AGBP696m...

Insinger to roll out an European equity inc.
March 7, 2005... Asset manager Insinger de Beaufort Asset Management will introduce a European Equity Income fund into the UK in May. The unit trust, to be managed by David Williams and Kobus Human, is targeting a yield of at least 110 per cent of the MSCI...

Hendry replaced after he tries to do it his way.
March 7, 2005... Hugh Hendry's contrarian views and individual approach to stock-picking were partly behind his departure from the AGBP199.7m Odey Continental European fund, according to the company. Mr Hendry has been replaced on the fund by portfolio...

FSA to probe regulation implications.
March 7, 2005... The FSA will embark on a 10-month probe into the burdens and benefits of regulation, particularly onfor small companies such as IFAs. The study will be conducted in partnership with another independent trade body, the Financial Services...

HSBC kick starts its boutique range.
March 7, 2005... It has also recruited former F&C emerging market manager Nick Timberlake to its new boutique-style venture, HSBC Halbis Partners. In December, it announced HSBC Asset Management would divide into two companies: Halbis Partners; and HSBC...

India looks good for investment, says report.
March 7, 2005... Investment opportunities abound in India as the economy takes off and more wealth is created, according to a report by business information service Datamonitor. The report, entitled Tapping the Indian Wealth Market, said that individuals...

Selestia's assets up by over 190%.
March 7, 2005... Selestia's assets almost tripled in size last year, with inflows of AGBP423m -- a 194 per cent increase on 2003. The fund supermarket and intermediary service provider said it had set a growth target of AGBP315m for 2004, which it...

Omam Corporate Bond tops sector.
March 7, 2005... The manager of Old Mutual's top-rated corporate bond fund is maintaining high exposure to BBB-rated debt and tight credit spreads. The fund is the top performer in the S&P Corporate Bond sector over three months. Over one year, the fund is...

Stewardship shuns US for Asia, Europe stocks.
March 7, 2005... The AGBP89.7m fund, which has received more than AGBP25m in new money since March 2004, has been picking up opportunities internationally where manager Sophie Horsfall believes performance will benefit most. Over the past three years, the...

St James's goes to number one in Isa league listing.
March 7, 2005... Boutique asset manager St James's Place has topped February's Isa league table. The company was second in the Morningstar ranking last month, but took the top spot on the back of Barclays slipping up, with its rating falling from 4.14 out...

IMA hits out at huge FSCS claims fund bill.
March 7, 2005... The IMA has attacked the FSCS and accused it of breaking its own guidelines as it tries to slap a AGBP27m compensation claims bill on managers. The levy is to cover claims that are anticipated against investment businesses in the period to...

Isa sales fail to match rise in equity markets.
March 7, 2005... Commentators said the drop in sales could signal a lack of faith in the investment industry among consumers and that they are not being won over by discounts and deals. January's sales figures showed a drop of 79 per cent compared to a...

SGAM, UBS weigh up Latin America holdings.
March 7, 2005... James Syme, head of emerging market equities of SG Asset Management, and analysts on the AGBP657m UBS Global Emerging Markets fund claimed there was potential for political and consequential economic unrest in Latin America in the lead-up to...

Invesco plans VCT issue.
March 7, 2005... Invesco Perpetual plans to launch a follow-up share issue to its VCT following the success of its first attempt in the market. The Invesco Perpetual Aim VCT has been forced to bring forward its closure to 21 March in order to protect...

Co-op is to roll out an ethical CTF stakeholder.
March 7, 2005... The Co-operative Insurance Society has launched an ethical fund for child trust fund investors, which will be stakeholder compliant. The society has teamed up with the Children's Mutual to provide a fund which will track the FTSE4Good...

KBPB offers UK and US the bear necessities.
March 7, 2005... Kleinwort Benson Private Bank is offering US and UK market bears the opportunity to buy a structured product returning 252 per cent of any fall in its investments. The latest sub-fund of the Capita Financial Bespoke Oeic, administered by...

Yorkshire rolls out three FoFs.
March 7, 2005... By Daniel Judge Discretionary wealth manager and IFA Yorkshire Investment Group has launched a three-strong fund of funds range on an absolute return basis. The Hallmark range -- Haven, Harmony and Horizon -- offer a sliding scale of...

New Star, CSAM get behind Asia.
March 7, 2005... New Star and Credit Suisse are backing Asia in their portfolios as they foresee a period of tech-led growth. Mark Harris, head of multi-manager for New Star, said Korean stocks were looking cheap and that he had brought Allianz's Dit Korea...

Merrill blasts BGI's Japan stance.
March 7, 2005... According to Haydn Davies, chief economist for BGI, the Tokyo stock market has been the worst performing major market over the past six months and that it appeared Japan was on the brink of another recession. But Hiroshi Tateda, manager of...

Performance.
March 7, 2005... By Daniel Judge This week we look at the TrustNet Global sector, which covers a wide range of funds with some having a worldwide investment scope and others having just a regional remit. The top fund is New Star's AGBP21m European...

Buys and Sells.
March 7, 2005... Jupiter Emerging European Opps 1Mark Harris, manager of New Star's AGBP21.2m European portfolio, has increased exposure to eastern Europe by increasing by 2 per cent his holding in Jupiter's AGBP180m Emerging European Opportunities fund....

Abbey is cautious over commercial property.
March 7, 2005... With the Investment Property Databank's annual index reporting 18.3 per cent total returns across the commercial property market in 2004, Mr Kelly has reminded investors that prices do not have to collapse for the asset class to lose position...

Royal London reveals drop in net retail sales.
March 7, 2005... Royal London Asset Management reported a decline in net retail sales for 2004. In its new business figures, the group reported joint sales by the asset management and Royal London Capital Management liquidity management subsidiaries fell...

Dow Jones to launch eight European investible indices.
March 7, 2005... Global index provider Dow Jones Indexes is launching a batch of investible indices covering the European markets. The eight indices, which will complement the Dow Jones US Select Dividend index, will cover France, Germany, Italy, the...

Industry is not meeting clients' needs, says Close.
March 7, 2005... Marc Gordon, managing director of Close, said the fund industry continued to do itself a disservice by launching poor quality vehicles lacking in imagination and failing to meet the basic requirements of clients -- those of defined risk and...

Big players join battle for London Stock Exchange.
March 7, 2005... The battle to take over the London Stock Exchange has been joined by a number of major players in the UK fund management industry. Fidelity, which owns 6 per cent of the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Borse, and Merrill Lynch, which has a stake...

Government's affordable housing plans boost F&C.
March 7, 2005... The AGBP120m F&C Smaller Companies fund is pinning hopes for continued strong returns from affordable housing. Manager Catherine Stanley, who runs the newly-merged fund, said the affordable housing sector was a core theme for small caps....

Marlboro' in deal with Cofunds.
March 7, 2005... Marlborough Fund Managers' entire range has joined the Cofunds platform this year. Four of its funds went on the platform last week, namely the AGBP76.6m Marlborough Special Situations managed by Giles Hargreaves, AGBP23.1m Equity Income,...

Schroder doubles its management profits.
March 7, 2005... The company's preliminary results for 2004 showed a doubling, from AGBP60.5m in 2003 to AGBP120.8m last year. Private equity profits were AGBP83bn, up from AGBP16.8m in 2003. More than half of these were from the AGBP47.8m sale of the...

Tight spreads will not ail high-yield debt: Axa.
March 7, 2005... Despite spreads tightening dramatically in high-yield debt last year, Axa believes low default rates and continuing corporate activity will continue to support the market. Both the US and European markets have gone through a period of...

Northern 3 plans more weighting in early stagers.
March 7, 2005... The Northern 3 VCT is looking to increase its weighting in early stage companies. Alastair Conn, managing director for Northern Venture Managers, said the top-up issue on the AGBP20.8m VCT had raised AGBP4m so far and was expecting to see...

Be careful of small-caps, says Premier.
March 7, 2005... Alistair Currie, manager of the AGBP8m Premier Smaller Companies fund, has warned investors to beware a glut of fund-raising in the sector. Since taking over management of the fund in October 2003, with the purpose of re-aligning the fund...

Oil price could stay at high level, say analysts.
March 7, 2005... The spike in the oil price has been ascribed to a transatlantic cold snap, with a fall in price to follow, but managers are not convinced. Threadneedle Investments said there were fears the era of the $50 barrel was here to stay,...

Euro Property opens up Balkans.
March 7, 2005... Investors can access Croatian and Slovenian real estate markets through a new fund from Euro Property Prospects. The former Yugoslavian states are developing booming tourist trades, according to Euro Property Prospects. James Hughes,...

Protected funds to see rise in index participation.
March 7, 2005... Scottish Life International has claimed low levels of index volatility mean investors in protected products should expect greater index participation this year. The company quoted a maximum indicative participation rate of almost 357 per...

Britannic to boost sales in asset management arm.
March 7, 2005... Britannic is aiming to improve sales in its asset management arm after retail sales fell during 2004. The company reported pre-tax profits of AGBP88m, an increase of AGBP3m from last year. It has revised its final dividend up by 1.5p to...

Baring Euro Select adopts macro tilt.
March 7, 2005... Since taking over the AGBP128m Baring Europe Select trust Nick Williams has moved toward greater macroeconomic emphasis when stock-picking smaller companies. Mr Williams, who took over in October last year, said: "The first input into the...

AITC wants FOS's remit extended.
March 7, 2005... The AITC has called for the Financial Ombudsman Service to be accessible for all investors over misleading promotions. In response to the Treasury's consultation paper The Regulation of Investment Trust Companies, the Association of...

Henderson, Fidelity at front of European pack.
March 7, 2005... Fidelity and Henderson have led the pack for European trusts with strong results, according to Cazenove. The AGBP578.2 Fidelity European Values saw its net asset value per share rise by 25.9 per cent outperforming the FTSE World Europe ex...

Aberdeen keen on Asian small stocks.
March 7, 2005... The prospects for Asian smaller companies are still promising despite narrowing valuations, according to Aberdeen. The AGBP69.9m Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies fund has outperformed the sector by a significant margin over three years and...

Poor picks forces Foreign to move.
March 7, 2005... Disappointing stock selection has led to a shake-up in the AGBP2.3bn Foreign & Colonial trust. The board of the trust has implemented a range of changes including the appointment of Julian Cane, manager of the AGBP99.6m F&C Capital Income...

Winterthur sounds A-day wake up call for advisers.
March 7, 2005... With just over 12 months to go before April 2006 intermediaries should have started to review client portfolios, claims Winterthur Life. Mike Morrison, pension strategy manager of Winterthur, believes more Sipp holders will be looking to up...

Sipps becoming more diversified, says study.
March 7, 2005... The Sipp report, which looks at how the market for self-invested personal pensions has developed over the past year, has set out insurance company, investment house, administrator/trustee, online, building society and stockbroker Sipps as six...

ScotEq targets open market annuities.
March 7, 2005... Previously, the pensions provider, which expects to introduce a permanent annuity quotes service on its extranet by the third quarter, has only offered its annuity range to existing clients. Its first foray into the market has been warmly...

Be careful of Aim tilt in small caps, says Bates.
March 7, 2005... Leeds-based IFA Bates Investment Services has warned that investment advisers may not be aware of the high level of Aim holdings in certain small-cap funds. Research conducted by Paul Ilott, the senior investment director, revealed that in...

Sitka C1 issue targets more mature firms.
March 7, 2005... So far, the AGBP10m fund has invested in 13 companies -- split between eight private and five Alternative Investment Market-listed companies -- since launch in 2001. Louis Nisbet, a partner of Sitka, said it would look to add...

A third of stocks make 20% a year.
March 7, 2005... More than a third of UK stocks delivered a return of over 20 per cent a year in the past decade, claims Fidelity. The asset manager analysed market returns in the UK over the past decade and found that more than one in three stocks rose on...

Legg US Large Cap will cover all market sectors.
March 7, 2005... The fund, managed by Legg Mason subsidiary Batterymarch, has been added to the Dublin-based Legg Mason Global Funds range. Although actively managed, with its proprietary quantitative stock selection process, it aims to deliver steady...

Effects of interest rates are key, says Legg guru.
March 7, 2005... US investors should avoid stocks with inflated earnings estimates if they are to find longer-term winners, according to Legg Mason. Bill Miller, chief investment officer of Legg Mason Capital Management and manager of the AGBP1.4bn Value...

Arc makes a late dash to enter VCT market.
March 7, 2005... Arc Fund Management has made a late entry to the venture capital trust market with its Arc Growth Company VCT. Arc, which manages four enterprise investment schemes, is looking to employ the same investment philosophy on the VCT, which will...

Sexes savings gap widens says NS&I.
March 7, 2005... Men are saving more in absolute and percentage income terms than women, according to the latest saving figures. National Savings & Investments' quarterly survey of the UK's spending habits revealed a widening gap between the sexes. Men...

Framlington announces healthcare succession.
March 7, 2005... Framlington has moved to allay concerns about its healthcare funds by announcing succession plans for veteran manager Antony Milford. Mr Milford is set to continue working across the range of health funds in an advisory role three days a...

Skandia plans third single-strategy.
March 7, 2005... Skandia Investment Man-agement is planning to develop new single-strategy funds later this year. There had been speculation a Japan fund was in the frame. The asset manager would only say it was targeting "larger asset pools" in its single...

Bedlam's foray into Egyptian history.
March 7, 2005... Bedlam Asset Management appears to have started a line in Egyptology. A recent company briefing said: "When the tombs of the Pharaohs were opened in the late 19th century, Egyptologists agreed the murals were more symbolic than factual. One...

Man and boy story at Threadneedle.
March 7, 2005... It's tough love at Threadneedle too, it seems. It looks like a case of investing for children at Threadneedle, but this time it is not CTFs but MSBs -- my son's birthday. Stephen Moore, PR Manager for Threadneedle Investments, inadvertently...

Collins Stewart seeks UK equities manager.
March 7, 2005... asset manager Collins Stewart is courting UK equity fund managers amid plans to boost its fund range. Stephen Coxshall, director of fund management for Collins Stewart, said he was in talks with a number of highly regarded UK managers. ...

Opening opportunities for the pan-European investor.
March 7, 2005... Investment Adviser: A lot of water has flown under the bridge since you came on board in 2001. What was the most difficult hurdle you had to overcome? Paul Boughton: That year itself was not the best year to come in and help re-align an...

Property may do well -- just do not bet the house on it.
March 7, 2005... As a means of diversifying risk through exposure to different asset classes, property was always viewed as a useful, if rather conservative, component of an investor's portfolio. But for those forward-thinking individuals who channelled assets...

And the Dutch answers were...
March 7, 2005... We are delighted to announce that Nigel Bolton of the Ipswich-based IFA Roger Walsh and Associates has won our competition, sponsored by Adriaan de Mol van Otterloo, manager of the AGBP91.8m Schroder European Alpha Plus fund. The correct...

Brewin sanguine on UK interest rate rise.
March 7, 2005... Mike Lenhoff, chief economic strategist of the stock broker and fund manager, said too many analysts were claiming the upside for equities would be restrained by any interest rate rises. He said: "Given the backdrop, there is still scope...

Trying to make sense of all the madness.
March 7, 2005... Is there any sense to market movements these days? A variety of commentators have alluded to Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's apparent confusion over the level of US bond yields. The more cynically inclined might postulate that a...

High alpha but not high spin.
March 7, 2005... If you have been reading your marketing literature over the past two or three years, you may have noticed it is a stock-picker's market. This is in contrast to the heady days of the 1990s when any monkey could stick a pin in the index, ride it...

Modelling for absolute valuations.
March 7, 2005... Perhaps the most popular market valuation device of the late 1990s was the Fed model. This was based on a paper by Federal Reserve economists who examined the ratio between the prospective earnings yield on the S&P 500 index and the yield on...

Don't be foolish over gold.
March 7, 2005... After 15 years of bear markets, commodity prices are on the rise and investors of all flavours are keen to get in on the action. Although in the past few years commodities have had an excellent run, experts, however, while suggesting the asset...

Miners are major winners.
March 7, 2005... There has been a rising price environment for commodity prices since the end of 2001 and prices are likely to remain at higher than their long-term averages for some time to come. So, does this mean we are in a bull market in the common...

The charge continues.
March 7, 2005... The 1980s saw the end of the last bull market in commodities and produced a gain of over 250 per cent, in dollar terms, from the 1968 low in the Reuters Commodity Research Bureau index, a broad index of commodities. Since then, commodities...

Where there's muck.
March 7, 2005... At the turn of the millennium, the outlook for world commodity markets was far from encouraging. The World Bank warned that "large stocks of most commodities preclude a rapid recovery of prices," as over-production and shrivelling global...

Jupiter comes to international's rescue.
March 7, 2005... Like a worn out record this week I have come back to look at an international fund, Jupiter Global Opportunities. It has been a bugbear of mine for years that the international sector has, in the main, been more like a dumping ground for fund...

Tax proposals threaten fund of funds holdings.
March 7, 2005... Life companies, funds of funds and multi-managers are hoping the Investment Management Association's intense lobbying will force amendments to the Treasury's proposed regulation of individual holdings in authorised investment funds. The...

A mad, mad, mad world.
March 7, 2005... After three years of strong performance, it is natural for some investors to question whether the current bull market in commodities stocks can continue. Certainly, in the past the commodities sector has been prone to cyclical upswings,...

All hail the consumer.
March 7, 2005... Although headline numbers may slow, the quality of growth in China is improving as the focus switches to consumer-led rather than investment-led expansion. Overall, gross domestic product growth in China is expected to remain strong in 2005,...

Should I stay or should I go?
March 7, 2005... Maybe it is just a desire to start profit-taking and book my summer holiday, but I am getting decidedly twitchy about the markets. However, it may also be because I have just read the latest edition of Investment Adviser and have encountered...

The exceptional cycle has got further to ride.
March 7, 2005... Commodity prices -- characterised by strong rises in the past few years -- are currently experiencing what many regard as an exceptional cycle. It has outlasted traditional cycles, which in the past few years have tended to last around 18...

Investors remain paranoid on tech.
March 7, 2005... Anyone who invested in a technology fund before the bubble burst in March 2000 is still nursing heavy losses. The average fund in the IMA Technology & Telecoms sector lost 74.14 per cent in the five years to 25 February, to rank last among the...

Volatile years knock inflows.
March 7, 2005... By AYSE FERLIEL If the past five years have highlighted anything it is the volatility of technology funds. In the second half of 1999, the Nasdaq100 index surged 114 per cent on average, compared with 199 per cent in 2000. However, in 2001...

Manager Comment - Nick Evans.
March 7, 2005... The Nasdaq fund is an actively-managed, quite aggressively run vehicle that invests in Nasdaq-listed securities. It is certainly not a Nasdaq tracker. We apply a thematic overlay with a focus on stock-picking within a certain framework. We...

NU in drive to derive protection.
March 7, 2005... Over the past five years, market volatility has driven investors to seek safer havens away from the turbulent equity markets. One means to offer investors exposure to possible market increases but also protection from the downside is through a...

Hambidge underweights the US in fund's first year.
March 7, 2005... By hugo Greenhalgh The AGBP6.3m Resolution International unit trust, managed by Premier Fund Managers, was launched on 1 March 2004. The fund is designed to provide long-term capital growth from a portfolio of international investments and...