Big-name fund managers tend to grab the headlines. But some lesser-known stockpickers perform a sterling job, says Alice Ross in the FT. The CF Walker Crips Equity Income Fund, managed by Jan Luthman and Stephen Bailey, has beaten the FTSE All Share over the last three, five and seven years. Yet few have heard of the duo.
That looks set to change. Hargreaves Lansdown recently moved the fund into its Wealth 150 – a list of the company’s favourite funds, because “we are confident this fund is positioned to benefit over the long term”, says Meera Patel.
Bailey and Luthman are cautious on the UK outlook, fearing the effects of rising inflation, slowing wage growth and higher unemployment. So the fund focuses on larger UK firms that serve the wider global economy, notably in emerging markets, (such as Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser).
The pair also like the telecoms sector, especially firms exposed to the growth in non-voice data (such as texting) and uploading (posting content to the web, rather than downloading it from the web). Hence their investments in Cisco Systems and Vodafone – the latter is a good income stock and well placed to benefit from a growth in non-voice traffic. The fund has a total expense ratio of 1.56%, although this can be reduced if you invest via a fund supermarket.
Contact: 0870-607 2555.
CF Walker Crips Equity Income Fund top ten holdings
| Name of holding | % of assets |
|---|---|
| Royal Dutch Shell B | 5.02 |
| BT Group | 4.83 |
| HSBC Holdings | 4.82 |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 4.81 |
| Anglo Pacific Group | 4.78 |
| Vodafone Group | 4.75 |
| Unilever | 4.73 |
| Imperial Tobacco Group | 4.69 |
| BP | 4.64 |
| British American Tobacco | 4.61 |