SVM Global Opportunities is a fund of funds that aims to achieve medium- to long-term capital growth and to outperform the FTSE World Index. However, this fund has massively underperformed its benchmark over one, three and five years, and since launch in 2006 has lost 24.1 per cent during which period the FTSE World Index has risen 34.6 per cent.
SVM Global Opportunities has also underperformed the Investment Management Association's (IMA) Global Fund sector over these periods by quite a margin, earning it a place on discount stock broker Chelsea Financial Service's lists of worst-performing funds. SVM Global Opportunities is included in Chelsea's most recent 'RedZone' list of worst-performing funds in each of the last three discrete years. Each fund in this list has produced third- or fourth-quartile returns among its fund peer group in each of the past three years.
The fund is also seventh worst performer in Chelsea's DropZone, a list of 10 funds from the RedZone that have also underperformed their fund sector averages by the largest amount cumulatively over three years. SVM Global Opportunities has underperformed the IMA Global sector average by 30.1 per cent over the three years to 1 August 2012.
However, the company is making changes with the fund's co-manager and SVM co-founder Donald Robertson leaving the company at the end of last month. Neil Veitch has taken the position of deputy manager. Mr Veitch runs other funds at SVM including SVM World Equity, which over the past year is among the top 10 performers in the IMA Global sector, and he will take ideas from this.
Mr Veitch and lead manager of SVM Global Opportunities Colin Mclean have already undertaken various changes to the portfolio and will continue to transition it to increase the fund's market sensitivity and underlying liquidity.
SVM has also placed its Cautious Managed and Absolute Alpha Funds under review.
