Fund group says funds run by Citywire AAA-rated Gervais Williams, George Godber and Georgina Hamilton may ‘reach capacity’ this year. Funds run by star managers Gervais Williams, George Godber and Georgina Hamilton are nearing capacity after strong performance and a surge of inflows. Fund group Miton (MRGM) warned Citywire AAA-rated Williams’ Miton UK Multi Cap Income fund and the Miton UK Value Opportunities fund run by Godber and Hamilton, also AAA-rated, could ‘reach capacity’ this year.
Miton UK Multi Cap is the best performing fund in the Investment Association’s UK Equity Income sector over three years, with a return of 66%. That performance, together with flows of new money, saw the fund grow from £378 million to £586 million last year.
Miton UK Value Opportunities has performed equally strongly, with a return of 65.4% since its launch in March 2013, and is the fourth best-performing fund in the Investment Association’s UK All Companies sector over one year, with a 21.7% return.
The fund was one of Citywire Money’s investment picks for 2015, with columnist Mike Deverell highlighting the managers’ ‘robust, repeatable method’ for picking out-of-favour small companies.
The fund is set to be merged with Miton Undervalued Assets, also run by Godber and Hamilton, and assets for the two have risen from £211 million to £783 million over the last year.
As part of that merger, the fund’s prospectus will be updated, giving the manager the option to impose an initial charge. This could be employed should the fund be judged to have reached capacity, or it could be taken off the major fund platforms. The UK Multi Cap fund already has the option of an initial charge, which was employed throughout the bulk of 2014, although none is levied currently.
Miton flagged the potential capacity issues as it issued a full-year trading update for 2015. Net inflows across the group’s funds hit £463 million, taking assets under management to £2.8 billion.
‘Inflows gained significant momentum in the final two quarters of the year,’ said Miton executive chairman Ian Dighé. ‘Our business is in a strong position to take advantage of the opportunities that will arise in what continues to be a volatile and uncertain market.’
Miton shares rose 5.7% to 28p on the news.
[Source: CityWire - Daniel Grote - January 14, 2016]
