As Anthony Bolton’s much admired Fidelity Special Situations fund splits in two, it’s worth drawing attention to one of the few fund managers who has matched his performance over the past three years. In fact, one equally admired fund manager has actually outperformed Bolton. Ashton Bradbury’s Old Mutual UK Select Mid Cap Fund, which he took over in February 2002, has returned 77.8% over the past three years. In contrast, Bolton’s has returned 63.4%, according to Citywire. Over that time, “it has simply been the best performing fund of its type”, say stockbrokers Hargreaves Lansdown.
Like all good fund managers, Bradbury has “a straightforward process”, says Mark Dampier in Money Marketing. A business cycle manager, “he looks at where we are in the business cycle and picks stocks accordingly”. Bradbury takes a look at everything from interest rates to the overall state of the UK economy when selecting where he invests. Visiting over 300 companies a year, “Bradbury assesses whether the business can grow faster than its market average over long periods, is it capable of delivering positive earnings surprises” and whether “there is a chance of it being rerated”, says Citywire.
Despite a fall in the FTSE 250 in April/May, he is still positive that opportunities remain in the market as share valuations are not particularly high. And “if there is any one manager in the UK that we would back to find these opportunities in this area of the market”, say Hargreaves Lansdown, “it is Ashton Bradbury”.
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Name of holding % of assets
Bellway 2.6
Venture Production 2.6
AWG 2.5
Punch Taverns 2.5
SIG 2.4
Barratt Developments 2.3
Babcock International Group 2.2
Collins Stewart Tullett 2.1
T&F Informa 2.1
Serco Group 2.0