Thematic: Commonality between equity income funds

Click here to view the UK Equity Income Sector Top 20 Investment Week examined the top 10 holdings across the top 20 best performers in the IMA's Equity Income sector to see the level of commonality between these portfolios. While there are some obvious similarities between themes the managers are playing, each is doing it in their own way with little uniformity seen at all in the top weightings. While the majority of funds have their largest weightings in financials, these position vary considerably and while stocks like BP and HSBC feature prominantly in most portfolios, their positions again appear individual.

There is an obvious commonality in the themes the top performers in the Equity Income sector are playing but the variances between weightings and stock selection shows shows the managers in many cases adding alpha outside their largest positions. In examining the top 20 performing funds over the three years to 10 March, based on offer to bid returns according to S&P figures, 13 of these all feature financials as their top sectoral position, while six feature oil, gas, energy or resources as their second largest. In addition HSBC and BP are two stocks that feature in the majority of the to...