Why it's not the end for absolute return

Ben Gutteridge, director, fund research at Brewin Dolphin, urges investors to stick with long/short strategies despite their recent run of disappointing performance.

Having researched UCITS III funds and the IMA Absolute Return universe for several years now, and thinking about how the sector has performed and what it has done for portfolios during times of stress, my mind often conjures up a picture of the elderly lady Catherine Tate enacts in her sketch show. I am particularly drawn to the comment she makes to her grandson in regard to the merits of a football match they are watching on television – “What a load of old… ” she exclaims. Clearly it is unfair to level this kind of criticism at every fund in the sector; indeed there have been severa...