Hall's short bets pay off as performance soars

Manager shorts IT and outsourcing while buying unloved domestics despite weak outlook

Jeremy Hall’s Ignis International Cartesian Enhanced Alpha suffered a disappointing 2009, but bounced back in 2010 and 2011. The fund returned 31.9% in the last year, ahead of the IMA UK All Companies sector average of 14%. The £49m portfolio is also ahead of the best funds over three years. What structure does the fund use? The Enhanced Alpha fund has a long bias with a small short book attached. The structure gives us the ability to enhance both our positive views, but more importantly our negative calls. When we think about the FTSE All Share, roughly 80% of companies by number a...