HL selects TB Amati UK Smaller Companies as first addition to Wealth Shortlist
Wealth 50 rebranded in June
Hargreaves Lansdown has selected the TB Amati UK Smaller Companies fund as the first addition to its new Wealth Shortlist.
A rebrand of Hargreaves Lansdown's Wealth 50 list, the 68-strong Wealth Shortlist was revealed in June with a renewed focus on passive and ESG funds, and greater emphasis on performance potential rather than savings for funds' ongoing charges.
Co-managed by Amati CEO Paul Jourdan, David Stevenson and Anna Macdonald, the £410m TB Amati UK Smaller Companies is a top-quartile performer in the IA UK Smaller Companies sector over three and five years. The fund has returned 0.9%, 22.3% and 86.2% over one, three and five years respectively, according to FE fundinfo, outperforming the sector's average loss of 5.9% over one year, and gains of 0.3% and 30.2% over three and five years respectively.
In a statement last week, Hargreaves Lansdown said the management team "look for high-quality, financially strong and growing businesses that, because of their size, are overlooked by many other investors".
It added: "The managers have usually delivered better returns than the benchmark both when markets have been rising and falling, although their strongest performance has come during the latter. That's been shown recently as well.
"Although the fund has not escaped the falls triggered by the global pandemic, it has held up much better than the broader UK smaller companies market."
With regard to fund costs and charges, Hargreaves Lansdown said: "The fund is available for an annual ongoing charge of 0.89%.
"This is higher than many others in the UK Smaller Companies sector, and so the managers have a higher hurdle to deliver a positive return. They have, however, delivered value above and beyond this charge over the long term. The HL platform fee of up to 0.45% per year also applies."
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Hargreaves Lansdown investment analyst Jonathon Curtis added: "We like the firm's dedicated focus on investing in this niche, which means it is solely focused on identifying companies with the greatest growth potential within the UK Smaller Companies sector.
"Amati is majority owned by its employees, and all staff are encouraged to invest in the business. We view this positively as the managers and staff share a long-term view, aligning their interests and that of the business with their investors."
Commenting on the fund's inclusion in the Wealth Shortlist, Jourdan said: "This endorsement from their widely respected fund research team means a great deal to all of us at Amati.
"August marks the start of my third decade managing the fund, which I have always seen as a great privilege; there are few more exciting things to be involved with as a fund manager than working with emerging companies, bringing the latest ideas and technologies to market.
"Our inclusion in the Shortlist is testament to the hard work of our entire team over many years and I am thrilled to see Amati recognised in this way."
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