Square Mile Investment Consulting and Research has made several changes to the Academy of Funds, its compilation of recommended funds. It has added eight strategies, kept ratings in place for six strategies following reviews, downgraded three funds and removed five from the list.
The firm’s analysts made the changes based on their 50 interviews with investment professionals from 34 asset management groups during April 2025, and recent corporate announcements.
‘Robust’ model portfolios among new additions
Five Columbia Threadneedle (CT) Universal Multi Asset Portfolios (Defensive, Cautious, Balanced, Growth and Adventurous), the abrdn Asia Pacific ex-Japan Equity Tracker fund, the Jupiter UK Income fund and the Regnan Sustainable Water & Waste fund have all joined the Academy of Funds.
Square Mile said the CT Universal MAP funds are “risk focused, actively managed and attractively priced”, benefiting from the breadth of Columbia Threadneedle’s investment team and offering a “robust range for clients seeking low-cost, actively managed multi-asset funds with a bias toward UK equities.”
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abrdn’s fund is managed by its Quantitative Index Solutions team. Although smaller than some of its peers, the team has significant experience in running index strategies and Square Mile’s analysts said believe they have the necessary resources to achieve good tracking outcomes, as demonstrated historically. “Additionally, the fund is competitively priced, offering good value for money to investors looking to invest in the region,” the firm added.
Adrian Gosden and Chris Morrison’s Jupiter UK Income was described as a “solid option” for investors wanting exposure to a relatively high conviction portfolio of income generating stocks, managed by a highly capable investment duo.
Regnan’s Sustainable Water & Waste fund won praise for its focused approach on companies bringing solutions to global water and waste environmental challenges. “Square Mile’s analysts believe it represents a compelling proposition for the Academy and is driven by a durable thematic tailwind, a stable investment process and highly experienced fund managers,” the analysts said.
Performance challenges lead to downgrades
BlackRock European Absolute Alpha, Aviva Investors MAF Core range and FP Wheb Sustainability Impact fund all retain their ratings.
Veritas Asian, Baillie Gifford Global Alpha Growth and Monks investment trust have all been downgraded to A following a challenging period of performance.
Federated Hermes Impact Opportunities, Baring EMD Blended Total Return, Unicorn UK Income and Unicorn UK Ethical Income funds, and SVM UK Opportunities have all seen their ratings downgraded.
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The manager of the Baring fund, Dr. Ricardo Adrogué, is retiring, while the performance of the Unicorn funds has not met Square Mile’s expectations.
The Federated Hermes strategy faces “multiple headwinds due to its inherent impact biases”, while Neil Veitch’s SVM fund has struggled as active UK equities have fallen out of favour.
“[The analysts] have followed the long-tenured fund manager Neil Veitch over many years, and so this is not a decision that they have made lightly but it in part reflects the diminishing investor interest for UK actively managed equities over recent years.
“While acknowledging the tough environment for UK equity strategies that invest across the market-cap spectrum, the analysts have concerns over the fund’s medium-term return profile within what is a competitive landscape. Consequently, their conviction has deteriorated to a point where they feel they can no longer support the fund’s rating,” Square Mile said.
This story was written by our sister title, Portfolio Adviser
