Sanford DeLand Free Spirit eyes substantial growth as fund turns three

Product returns nearly 36% over the period

Sanford DeLand (SDL) hopes to substantially grow its top-performing Free Spirit fund after "broadening" the sub-£10m fund's investor base as it reached its three-year anniversary in January, according to co-manager Andrew Vaughan.

Vaughan, who replaced Rosemary Banyard late last year after she departed a few months earlier, said SDL is now actively marketing the fund, which is already starting to attract inflows. The fund has returned 35.8% over three years to 3 May, according to FE fundinfo, placing it comfortably in the top quartile of the IA UK All Companies sector which has lost 7% over the same period. Vaughan noted that growing the fund, which invests primarily in small- and mid-cap stocks with flexibility to invest in some larger stocks, to the levels of SDL's flagship £1.3bn Buffettology fund would be "...