When Cedric de Fonclare was promoted to head of Jupiter’s European Special Situations Fund in July last year, many analysts doubted his ability to continue the excellent track record of his predecessor, Leon Howard-Spink. However, “he has not let anyone down and is ranked top percentile so far”, says Darius McDermott of Chelsea Financial Services in The Independent. In fact, de Fonclare has outperformed Howard Spink’s Schroder European Alpha Plus Fund since 15 July last year, returning 24.75% against Schroders’ 23.93% to 30 June, 2006 says MoneyMarketing.com.
De Fonclare takes a bottom-up approach to investing, taking little notice of the wider economic climate and avoiding cyclical stocks. Instead, he “looks for undervalued medium and large companies with good products, efficient management and a strong operating niche”, says the Daily Mail.
Talking to Investment Week, he says he picks companies with “a good track record in the financials and management, as well as good organic growth, pricing power and high barriers to entry”. Investors have overlooked the fund, possibly because “the special situations label is off-putting for some brokers”, says Money Marketing, but it urges investors “to look under the bonnet”. Brian Dennehy of independent financial adviser Dennehy Weller is equally enthusiastic. He tells the Daily Mail that “we have consistently bought this fund, and even during the bear market, it has not let us down”.
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Jupiter European Special Situations top ten holdings
Name of holding % of assets
Société Générale 2.84
Continental AG 2.66
Banca Italease Spa 2.62
Syngenta AG 2.58
UBS AG 2.50
DNB NOR ASA 2.49
Essilor International 2.42
Valentino Fashion Group SPA 2.24
Reed Elsevier NV 2.18
BNP Paribas 2.15