FundCalibre has awarded the Invesco Bond Income Plus Limited trust an Elite rating, while WS Montanaro Global Select and Schroder Global Multi-Asset Cautious Portfolio were both put on the Elite Radar.
The Matthews Pacific Tiger fund, however, has been knocked from Rated back to the Radar list, following the exit of lead manager Sharat Shroff. The fund, which focuses on domestic or regionally-oriented companies for Asian consumers, is now led by Inbok Song. Song worked at Matthews Asia from 2007 to 2015, and returned to the team in 2019.
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Invesco’s newly Elite-Rated fund deals with high-yielding fixed income securities across different countries and industries and has been in operation since 2003. According the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), the trust is currently trading on a 1.7% premium to net asset value (NAV) and has returned 25.9% over the past five years, compared with a sector average 16.4%.
Darius McDermott, managing director of FundCalibre, said: “The team has demonstrated their ability to manage risk through diversification, while also paying a consistent level of dividend for a number of years.”
The WS Montanaro Global Select fund has small and mid-cap holdings in developed markets such as the USA, UK and Germany. Over half of the holdings are in industrials and information tech, closely followed by financials and healthcare. The fund has returned 8.54% in the past three years, compared with a sector-average 22.3%.
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“Although the style of this fund has been out of favour recently, [WS Montanaro] manager George Cooke is highly experienced, with a track record of delivering strong returns investing in both small and mid-cap companies. With the fund in good hands, we believe this should see a performance turnaround,” McDermott said.
The Schroder Global Multi-Asset Cautious portfolio includes a mix of passive and active solutions with a charge cap of 0.22%. McDermott said the fund should be considered by those with a “strong focus on risk” looking for a cost-effective active solution.
This story was written by our sister title Portfolio Adviser
