Defensive management strategy puts Nickols' UK Select Smaller Companies 8% above benchmark

Omam manager guides UK Select Smaller Companies through worst year since WWII

Old Mutual Asset Managers (Omam)'s UK Select Smaller Companies beat its benchmark by 8% last year through Dan Nickols upping his defensive stance in the portfolio. Having run the fund since 2004, Nickols' investment style has served him well in those five years from 25 January 2004 to 25 January 2009 according to Morningstar, providing top-quartile returns in all but his first year and beating the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies Index (HGSC) by an average of 7.98% over that time. Recently appointed head of the UK mid- and small-cap team, the manager says 2008 was the worst year for stock...