High EM exposure brings top-quartile performance for Active Managed funds

SECTOR ANALYSIS

A high weighting to emerging markets has served funds in the Active Managed sector well, with the strongest portfolios seeing returns driven by their EM exposure.

Managers of the Newton Discovery and Margetts Venture Strategy funds both said emerging market players were the key drivers of performance. Meanwhile, other top funds in the sector including Neptune Global Alpha and Investec Managed Growth also have a large proportion of stocks weighted to emerging markets and the Asia Pacific region. Toby Ricketts, manager of Margetts Venture Strategy fund, a multi-manager vehicle, which is top quartile over one and three years, said he always backs his judgments aggressively. For example, in 2007, when he felt G20 economies were too heavily indebted...