Contrarian Whitmore stock picks his way through crunch

Ex-Schroders manager seeks out strong companies where share price weakness is deemed temporary and balance sheet strength is a key criterion

Jupiter's Ben Whitmore has now notched up two stellar years in charge of the £253m UK Special Situations fund. His performance is top-decile over three months and one and three years, thanks to a contrarian bias that led him to a defensive orientation in the run up to the credit crunch. According to Morningstar figures to 13 October, the fund reports 0.9% growth over three years, ranking 12 out of 273 UK All Companies sector peers. Over one year, it reports a 27.7% loss compared to the sector average loss of 37.8%. Whitmore said when he took the fund over in late 2006, he did so on ...