Seven rising star managers worth following

Mr Rhodes, for example, has grown the M&G Global Dividend fund to a sizeable £9.2bn. However, this fund has sunk to the bottom quartile over the past year, with returns of 5.67 per cent in 2014. This year we highlight another up-and-coming manager in this sector, Jacob De Tusch-Lec, of Artemis Global Income.

Recent months have seen a series of challenges for managers making our list, with returns slumping across the board.

Tim Cockerill, from investment manager Rowan Dartington, says: "There's been quite a cocktail for managers to cope with, including emerging market wobbles, weakening growth in the eurozone, a falling oil price and slowing Chinese economic growth, alongside political tension between the West and Russia, to list just some challenges."

He adds that no manager consistently outperforms. "Everyone has poor years, even the very best managers - but they'll stick with their investment processes and as market behaviour returns to normal their performance should improve," says MrCockerill.

Here's our updated rising star selection, with some managers taking the helm of both unit and investment trusts.

ALEX SAVVIDES, AGE 39

JOHCM UK DYNAMIC FUND (GB00BDZRJ101)

Alex Savvides is a new name among our top picks. However, he's been in the industry for some time, with 17 years' experience under his belt.

He joined JO Hambro Capital Management in March 2003 and manages its UK Dynamic fund, at a size of £283m. He also works alongside Mark Costar as manager of JOHCM's Growth Fund.

Darius McDermott, director at Chelsea Financial Services, says: "Alex is a relatively young manager, who has proved himself to be a talented and determined investor, but has remained virtually undiscovered by the broader investment community."

The JOHCM UK Dynamic Fund is a growth fund that focuses on the power of dividends. Mr Savvides only invests if the company has the ability to pay a dividend in the next financial year, perhaps because it is undergoing substantial positive change, or has hidden value.

Ben Yearsley, head of investment research at Charles Stanley Direct, says: "It can be an approach that carries greater risks. A turnaround in fortunes may not occur, or it may take a considerable amount of time. In the six or so years Mr Savvides has been managing this core UK fund he has built an excellent reputation, beating both the market and the majority of his peers."

Prior to joining JOHCM, Mr Savvides spent seven years in sales, trading and research roles focusing on UK companies at various broking firms. He holds a BA (Hons) in Politics from the University of Nottingham.

Sector: UK All Companies

Position in sector: 13th out of 268 funds

TER: 1.6 per cent

JAMES SYM, AGE 31

SCHRODER EUROPEAN ALPHA INCOME (GB00B6S00Y77)

James Sym is a rising star who joined Schroders as part of the Cazenove acquisition. He focuses on business cycle investing, a key investment strategy for the asset manager.

The rising star evaluates companies in terms of how they perform at different points in the business cycle, an approach pioneered by former Cazenove manager Tim Russell.

Mr Sym joined Cazenove as an analyst in 2007 before being promoted to co-manager of its European income fund. He then moved to Schroders in July 2013. In June 2014 he was given additional responsibility with the management of the Schroder European Alpha Plus Fund, in total managing over £1bn of assets.

Maike Currie, associate investment director at Fidelity Personal Investing, says: "While his tenure as a manager is short, his track record has been solid and the two funds are managed according to a similar process.

"Mr Sym is a keen proponent of business cycle investing which marries top-down and bottom-up analysis. The manager will adjust the fund's bias either towards defensive or cyclical stocks, depending on where we are in the economic cycle."

James graduated from St John’'s College, Cambridge with a degree in natural sciences and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Sector: Europe Excluding UK

Position in sector: 9th out of 101 funds

TER: 1.67 per cent

JACOB DE TUSCH-LEC, AGE 40

ARTEMIS GLOBAL INCOME (GB00B6S00Y77)

Jacob Tusch-Lec is another new name who has really come into his own since he was given the responsibility for the running of the Artemis Global Income fund, launched in 2010.

Patrick Connolly, a certified financial planner at Chase de Vere, says: "The fund is building an impressive track record and has already grown to about £1.4bn in size. He adopts a flexible approach and as such is likely to hold different stocks to many of his competitors. In an ever more popular sector, it is likely that Mr de Tusch-Lec will enjoy a much greater profile in the years ahead."

He has also, with colleague James Foster, managed the Artemis Monthly Distribution Fund since its launch in May 2012.

Mr de Tusch-Lec started his career in 1998 at Copenhagen-based BankInvest, one of the largest independent fund managers in Scandinavia, where he was a portfolio manager on the central and eastern European/ Russia Equity Unit Trust.

He has also worked for investment bank Merrill Lynch and joined Artemis in 2005. He holds a BA and an MSc in economics from the University of Copenhagen and an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University, specialising in international economics and finance.

During his time at New York University, Mr de Tusch-Lec was a teaching assistant under internationally acclaimed economist Professor Nouriel Roubini.

Sector: Global Equity Income

Position in sector in 2014: 13th out of 34 funds.

TER: 1.62 per cent

THOMAS MOORE, AGE 38

STANDARD LIFE UK EQUITY INCOME UNCONSTRAINED FUND (GB00B79X9673)

Thomas Moore makes another appearance on our star list. He has covered international equities, emerging markets and the UK in his career, which began at Schroders as a graduate in 1998, where he worked as an analyst for the emerging markets team, before moving to Standard Life in 2002.

In 2006 he moved to the UK equities team, taking over the Income Unconstrained fund in 2009, and pushing it to the top of the sector that year. Mr Moore also manages the Standard Life Equity Income investment trust.

Laith Khalaf, from Hargreaves Lansdown, says: "He is an enthusiastic up-and-coming manager who is making a name for himself in a highly competitive space. While it is early days he has built up an impressive track record so far, although 2014 has been more difficult for him as his favourite hunting ground of mid- and small- caps have struggled."

Unlike most equity income managers who focus investment in large-cap stocks, Mr Moore invests right across the UK market, whether companies are large, mid-sized or small.

Jason Hollands, managing director at wealth adviser Bestinvest, adds: "Although this approach is unconventional, risk is very much front of mind. He won't carry passengers in the portfolio just because they are large index stocks and focuses on companies with very strong earnings, free cash flow and healthy levels of dividend cover."

Sector: UK Equity Income

Position in sector: 42nd out of 87 funds (6th in 2013)

TER: 1.91 per cent

ALEX WRIGHT, AGE 35

FIDELITY UK SMALLER COMPANIES FUND (GB00B7VNMB18)

Alex Wright remains on the up-and-coming list as an excellent smaller companies manager. However, his sector has struggled this year, with investors moving into large-cap stocks as a safeguard against rocky markets.

Mr Cockerill says: "This is a fund that performs best in rising markets and where investors are willing to take more risk, so 2014 wasn't a good year and investors may need to be patient because favourable market conditions may not emerge in 2015.

"The fund is diversified across over 95 positions which includes a small number of shorts and after a period of poor performance the opportunity for returns to pick up has improved."

He adopts a contrarian approach. His focus is on identifying unloved and undervalued companies where the market has overlooked the potential for growth or positive change.

Mr Wright has a big task after being handed Fidelity Special Situations in January, a £2.8bn fund run by Anthony Bolton for 28 years before it was handed to Sanjeev Shah in 2008.

Mr Khalaf says: "Although the Special Situations Fund has significant exposure to small and medium-sized companies, it will predominantly be invested in larger companies. Mr Wright is likely to find it more difficult to add value in this area. That said, in light of his impressive track record and disciplined investment approach we believe he is capable of delivering strong returns for long-term investors."

He joined Fidelity from university in 2001, working as an analyst before moving into portfolio management in 2008, and also manages the Fidelity Special Values Investment Trust (FSV), which as at 15 December 2014 was trading at a 6.55 per cent discount.

Sector: IMA UK Smaller Companies

Position in sector: 31st out of 53 funds.

Fund's total expense ratio (TER): 0.96 per cent

PERFORMANCE OF RISING STARS

Source: Morningstar

Notes: *Data as at 1 December 2014. Shows percentage change performance of £100 initial lump sum, on bid price-to-bid price basis, basic rate tax in sterling.

INVESTMENT TRUST YOUNGSTERS

Catherine Raw, of BlackRock World Mining (BRWM) appeared on our previous list. However, experts say this investment trust has fallen out of favour. "It's had a really rough time, and suffered from heavy criticism after taking around a £50m writedown related to London Mining," says MrCockerill.

However, John MacDougall, manager of Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon (BGS), remains on our rising stars list.

This trust aims to pursue long-term capital growth principally through investment in small Japanese companies. Mr MacDougall graduated with a BA in Ancient & Modern History from Oxford university in 2000. He joined Baillie Gifford the same year and is an investment manager in the global discovery team. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2003.

Mr Cockerilll says: "This year has been one in which Japan has started implementing some far reaching changes and one of the consequences has been the yen weakening, and this hits the performance of Japanese investments unless the currency risk has been hedged out.

"Performance in the year to date has been weak, but in the long term the fund has an excellent record in this area." It returned 4.31 per cent in the year to 1 December, compared with a sector average of 3.82 per cent, according to Morningstar.

Fund: Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon

Sector: AIC Japanese Smaller Companies

Ongoing charge: 1.24 per cent

Tom Slater, who manages the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (SMT) in the AIC global sector with James Anderson, is also one to watch.

A spokesman for the AIC says: "Scottish Mortgage has had a good year, and has had remarkable performance over the longer term." It has returned 23.26 per cent so far this year, compared with a sector average of 8.07 per cent.

The company's objective is to invest in quoted equities and to maximise total return, while also generating real dividend growth from an actively managed global portfolio. It currently trades on a 3.5 per cent premium and has an ongoing charge of 0.5 per cent.

Mr Slater graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in Computer Science with Mathematics in 2000. He became a CFA charterholder in 2003. He joined Baillie Gifford in 2000 and is an investment manager in the UK Investment Team.

Fund: Scottish Mortgage

Sector: AIC Global

Ongoing charge: 0.5 per cent