Sell-off gives Watts 'another bite of the cherry'

Mid-cap managers are adding to their highest-conviction holdings following the harsh sell-off experienced by the FTSE 250, a fall they argue "has neither rhyme nor reason."

Legal & General Investment Management reported inflows of £3.8bn in the first quarter of 2014, down 19% from the same period last year, while individual annuity sales also tumbled.

Schroders has promoted global head of equities Peter Harrison to the vacant position of head of investment.

The "brutal" sell-off which has hit emerging markets for six since the start of the year is now at an end, Aberdeen CEO Martin Gilbert has said, with outflows from the group's fund range slowing.

The average strategic bond fund now holds less than half its assets in the UK, as managers "starved" of opportunities rotate into Europe, the US, and emerging market debt.

Platform Nucleus saw its assets under administration jump 37% in 2013 to £6.2bn, with gross inflows up 26% to £1.7bn, driving a sharp climb in profitability.

Schroders' Andy Brough has sold his entire holding in Sports Direct, exiting one of his longest and highest-conviction holdings.

Investment trust buyers are looking to switch into unloved value trusts after the rally in their growth-orientated peers left many of these looking overvalued.

Boutique investment house Newscape Capital Group has closed its poorly-performing Dynamic Rates & Currency fund less than two years after bringing it to market, and has also shut its Absolute Bond fund, Investment Week understands.