The latest Spot the Dog survey has landed, a long-held tradition by Bestinvest that roots out duds in the fund management industry. 

This year’s research shows a proliferation of duffers in the pack, with some of the biggest names placed on the list for the first time. 

Bestinvest’s headline figure shows that the number of underperforming funds according to their metrics has almost tripled: from 56 to 151.

Notably, they’ve placed 49 global funds in the doghouse, the highest of any region and more than double the figure since they last checked in mid-2023. 

To remind readers: the report's remit is identifying funds which have underperformed their benchmark over three consecutive 12-month periods and underperformed by 5 per cent or more over that whole three-year period.

With this in mind, we thought we’d have a quick rummage through the quite extensive list to see which struggling funds are widely held by DFMs in our database. 

Two of the biggest names in fund management - Terry Smith and Nick Train - are among those to see their funds on the list for the first time. 

Fundsmith Equity and Lindsell Train UK Equity have lagged their respective indices over the past three years and we’ve covered their woes in detail. 

But our database shows allocators are sticking by the funds through leaner times: Fundsmith is still held by six allocators, and Lindsell Train is held by seven. These remain among the most popular picks despite short-term headaches, perhaps owing to outperformance over a longer time horizon and the fact these veteran managers are sticking to their guns and continuing to do what they have long said they would.

We discussed allocator loyalty to Fundsmith on the Asset Allocator Podcast recently, which you can listen to here.

It's also worth noting that the second-most popular global equity fund in our database - Ninety One Global Environment - also made it onto the dog list.

Elsewhere, the most popular funds in Japan have struggled - despite the Japanese market having a good time lately.

We have covered quite a bit how allocators have herded behind M&G Japan, but of course there are other funds in our database here.

For example Baillie Gifford Japanese is held by four allocators but is on the dog list along with JPM Japan which is held by six.

Another popular fund to make it onto the list was Premier Miton European Opportunities, which is the third most popular fund in that sector in our database.