Five UK small-cap funds defying the global slowdown

Four years on from the demise of Lehman Brothers the effects of the financial crisis are still being felt across the global economy, stunting GDP growth across both developed and emerging economies.

The fragile state of the global economy has dampened investor sentiment towards equities, and they have sought safety in fixed income products, which offer a greater degree of capital preservation but on the whole deliver lower returns over long time periods. Net retail sales figures for the UK funds industry have highlighted investors' risk averse positioning, with UK All Companies posting record outflows of £401m in August, putting the sector at the bottom of the sales charts. Over the past year, fixed income funds have taken £7.1bn of retail money, while equity funds have posted ...