Wintle blames 'rough' Q1 as US Opps performance slumps

Felix Wintle, the manager of the £673m Neptune US Opportunities fund, has blamed a tough first quarter this year for his fund's lacklustre performance over the last 12 months.

The fund, one of the best performers over three years, returned just 0.1% to investors in the year to 15 April, according to Morningstar, compared to an average return of 3.6% in the IMA North America sector. Wintle said the fund was plagued by stock-specific issues in Q1 of 2011, with the nuclear disaster in Japan hammering the portfolio’s position in uranium producer Cameco. Other detractors included IT companies F5 Networks and Finisar, both of which fell sharply after missing earnings expectations. Wintle said: “We have had a particularly rocky period in Q1. We had some stock-s...