There’s little doubt that Standard Life’s UK smaller companies fund is one of the star performers in the smaller companies sector. Over the last five years it has recorded a 51 per cent return, against 17 per cent for the Investment Management Association’s UK smaller companies sector. However, it has not been able to avoid the carnage that the small companies market has suffered this year and over the last 12 months the fund’s value has fallen by 37 per cent. That’s better than the wider sector though, largely because manager Harry Nimmo has generally avoided the boom-to-bust resources stocks.
Mr Nimmo is confident of better things in the year ahead. He’s expecting the market to turn soon and, with eight per cent of the fund in cash, he’s well placed to jump in when the opportunities arise. Those opportunities will be uncovered by Standard Life’s stock screening system which looks at earnings growth, balance sheet strength and share price momentum. However, Mr Nimmo notes that there are fewer attractive opportunities now than there have been in the past.
So the progress of the existing holdings is all important. As the sector breakdown below shows, the fund holds plenty of industrial, technology and consumer services stocks. That might not look too clever going into a recession, but the top ten holdings are bearing up reasonably well. Online clothing retailer Asos, for example, recently announced an upbeat set of first half results.
Key fund data
| STANDARD LIFE UK SMALLER COMPANIES FUND | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PRICE: | 141p | 1 YEAR PERFORMANCE | -36% |
| SIZE OF FUND: | £328m | 3 YEAR PERFORMANCE | 2.4% |
| No OF HOLDINGS: | 59 | 5 YEAR PERFORMANCE | 51.3% |
| SET UP DATE | 1 June 1997 | INITIAL CHARGE | 4% |
| MANAGER START DATE | 1 June 1997 | ANNUAL CHARGE | 1.50% |
| SHARPE RATIO | negative | YIELD | - |
| VOLATILITY | +3.1 | MINIMUM INVESTMENT | £500 |
| TRACKING ERROR | +3.4 | MORE DETAILS | 0131 225 2345 |
For more fund data, click here
