TM Sanditon UK (GB00BXRTP273), the fund launched last year by renowned former Cazenove and Schroder UK Opportunities (GB0007218398) manager Julie Dean, is lagging its benchmark. But has Ms Dean spotted a downturn coming which will leave other funds exposed?
Investors and analysts have been watching Ms Dean's new venture with bated breath to see if she can replicate her stellar performance managing Cazenove, latterly Schroders', UK Opportunities fund. She returned 338 per cent compared with just 174.5 per cent for the FTSE All-Share between December 2002 and her shock resignation from Schroders in September 2014 just one year after its Cazenove acquisition. But in the last year of her tenure, the fund's performance slipped to fourth quartile.
Ms Dean is known for her business-cycle approach, which means shifting between stocks and sectors depending on what point of the economic cycle we are in. That performance was attributed by some to the size of the fund, which had swelled to £2.8bn at its peak in 2014 from £165m in 2011, making it harder to move nimbly between stocks. Many advocated following Ms Dean currently manages £135m, but has so far made a slow start, returning just under 9 per cent in the year to date against the FTSE All-Share's 13.7 per cent.