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FE alpha managers Hall of Fame revealed

FE alpha managers Hall of Fame revealed

A group of 17 fund managers have secured their place in the Financial Express 'Hall of Fame' for the fifth year running, while 18 managers entered the list for the first time.

Rankings released today (March 25) showed Schroders' Andrew Brough and Jenny Jones, Woodford Investment Management's Neil Woodford, and Jupiter's John Chatfeild-Roberts had all retained their record as an ‘FE Alpha Manager’ for the fifth year in a row.

This was based on the risk-adjusted alpha they generated and the consistency of their outperformance against their benchmarks.

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The ratings are judged by a manager’s track record since 2000, with extra weighting given to those with the longest record.

New on the list of alpha managers were Allianz Global Investors' Bryan Agbabian and Bryan Agbabian, Baillie Gifford's Spencer Adair, and Columbia Threadneedle Investments' Mark Heslop among others.

Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing at Willis Owen, said the FE list recognised asset manager performance over the long-term, which was to be commended.

He said: "It is interesting to see Neil Woodford in there, despite having recently had a rough period. As much as this may seem a surprise, it gives you some perspective over a manager’s longer career which hopefully enables investors to better identify the long-term winners.

"However, the list doesn’t take into account other factors such as managers switching companies, or any related change to accessible resources, or the structure of the fund."

Mr Lowcock said there were several names on the wider list that he considered to be excellent managers, citing Marlborough Fund Managers’ Giles Hargreave, Crux Asset Management’s Richard Pease and Jupiter’s John Chatfeild Roberts by name.

According to FE, 200 FE Alpha Manager ratings were issued in the 2019 rebalance, which saw 54 new entrants, 38 of whom had never previously been awarded the rating.

Mr Lowcock said it was good to see some less-familiar names recognised for the first time alongside some names who will be instantly familiar to advisers.

"Luke Kerr (Merian Global Investors), Jeremy Podger (Fidelity), Mark Heslop (Columbia Threadneedle) and Alex Savvides (JO Hambro Capital Management) are all well-known names but many are less familiar," he said.

The full list is to be displayed at the FE Alpha Manager awards ceremony at the London Symphony Orchestra, St Luke’s on Thursday 16 May 2019.

The managers with five consecutive years in FE's 'Hall of Fame' were:

Name

Group

Andrew Brough

Schroders

Andrew C. Green

GAM

Barry Norris

Argonaut Capital Partners

Daniel Nickols

Merian Global Investors

David Dudding

Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Giles Hargreave

Marlborough Fund Managers

Gordon Grender

GAM

Harry Nimmo

Aberdeen Standard Investments

Jenny Jones

Schroders

John Chatfeild-Roberts

Jupiter

Leigh Himsworth

Fidelity

Mark Slater

Slater Investments

Martin Lau

First State Investments

Neil Woodford

Woodford Investment Management Ltd

Richard Pease

CRUX Asset Management Limited

Richard Woolnough

M&G

Robin Hepworth

EdenTree Investment Management

New entrants in 2019 were:

Name

Manager

Alex Savvides

JO Hambro Capital Management

Andrew Headley

Veritas Asset Management

Andrew Holliman

Polar Capital

Bryan Agbabian

Allianz Global Investors

Charles Richardson

Veritas Asset Management

Chris Hutchinson

Unicorn Asset Management

Ezra Sun

Veritas Asset Management

Jeremy Podger

Fidelity

Luke Kerr

Merian Global Investors

Margaret Lawson

SVM Asset Management

Mark Costar

JO Hambro Capital Management

Mark Heslop

Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Robin Parbrook

Schroders

Robrecht Wouters

JO Hambro Capital Management

Roger Morley

MFS Meridian Funds

Sean Ashfield

Consistent Unit Trust

Spencer Adair

Baillie Gifford

Thorsten Winkelmann

Allianz Global Investors