UK equities

The FTSE 100 has moved above 7,000 for the first time in its history this afternoon, as a strong open on Wall Street helped the UK's blue chip index finally reach the landmark figure.

As Woodford Investment Management gears up for the launch of its Patient Capital investment trust, Investment Week visited the company's Oxford offices to quiz senior personnel about their plans for the future.

Simon Brazier has completed his overhaul of the £164m Investec UK Alpha fund, trimming positions in "expensive" cyclical stocks in favour of more globally diversified companies.

Lazard is planning to merge Lloyd Whitworth and Alan Custis' £80m UK Alpha fund into its smaller UK Omega fund, subject to shareholder approval.

Neptune is replacing the outgoing manager of the £66m UK Opportunities fund with its head of UK equities Mark Martin as it continues to restructure its fund range.

Fund groups should focus more attention on the need for active UK equity funds that are overweight large caps, according to Andrew Summers, head of fund research at Investec Wealth & Investment.

Graham Ashby former head of UK equities at Ignis Asset Management, has replaced Richard Moore as manager of two equity funds at Santander Asset Management.

Peter Lees has resigned from F&C, two months after handing over his UK equity fund to other managers.

Natixis Global Asset Management has unveiled two multi-factor equity funds run by its French affiliate Seeyond.

The end of the ‘price premium’ strategy?