Stick or twist: 2015 manager moves

 High-profile manager moves in 2015 and 2014

Source: Investors Chronicle. *Sadly the manager died.

Angus Tulloch - Expert verdict: Stick

One of the most high-profile exits in 2015 came in November, with the news that Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders Fund (GB0033874768) and Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Fund (GB0030183890) manager Angus Tulloch is to stand down next year. Asia Pacific Leaders will now be managed by David Gait and Sashi Reddy, who also co-manage successful IC Top 100 Fund Pacific Assets Trust (PAC), while former Fidelity fund manager Ashish Swarup will take over the lead role on the £700m Asia Pacific Fund, where Mr Tulloch will remain co-manager. Experts said the fact that the highly successful manager was remaining at the fund house, and the fact it was to be a smooth transition, meant they were happy to hold on to the funds.

Jason Hollands, managing director at Tilney Bestinvest, said: "Mr Tulloch has been a towering presence in the Asian equity markets for many years with an identifiable track record running retail funds in the sector of over 27 years, the longest of any manager, with blistering outperformance over multiple timescales.

"His flagship £7.2bn Asia Pacific Leaders fund is 46 per cent ahead of the index over 10 years and 28 per cent ahead of the index over five - performance that has justified every penny of the fees investors have paid for active fund management.

"It is important, however, to stress that the Stewart Investors approach is very much team based and David Gait, who will take on the larger of the two funds, has worked alongside Mr Tulloch for many years and has a strong pedigree in his own right."

Mr Haynes said he was also happy to stick with the fund after the renowned manager's exit. He said: "Long-term investors have known for some time that it was likely Mr Tulloch would soon be taking a step back and the fund house put in some good contingency measures.

"In David Gait you have a manager with a strong track record who is familiar with the clearly defined process of investing in quality."

Mr Dampier agreed: "We haven't suggested switching because there is a big team there and Angus is still very much there."

Jason Pidcock - Expert verdict: Twist

Experts felt differently about the surprise exit of Newton Asian Income (GB00B8KPW262) manager Jason Pidcock, who quit the fund house in May 2015, marking a coup for rival fund house Jupiter. Following his exit Newton decided to merge its emerging and Asian equity teams under manager Rob Marshall-Lee, who runs Newton Global Emerging Markets (GB00BVYPP917). Although Newton does boast a team approach to investment, with a much larger bank of analysts than Jupiter, experts were shaken at his exit.

Mr Haynes said: "Mr Pidcock's exit was a surprise to us. He'd been instrumental in the fund since launch and because of that we sold it immediately. When we're looking at a fund it comes down to people or process or a combination of both. We thought that Mr Pidcock's individual stockpicking abilities and the way he drove the process was crucial. We were getting concerned about the asset class and starting to feel a little more nervous about Asian exposure generally, so for us it acted as a catalyst to think again about the wider picture."

Mr Dampier said that he felt the manager was too central to the fund for his exit not to make an impact. He said: "Mr Pidcock was always a bit more of a one-man band. There was a team around him but I suspect we will follow the manager."

But Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services, also expressed uncertainty about whether Mr Pidcock would be able to replicate his success at Jupiter. He said: "At Newton Mr Pidcock was supported by a big bank of global analysts and they focus on running money in big thematic plays. Now he is going to a different environment and Jupiter works in a very different way. We will be interested to see how Mr Pidcock will adapt without that bank of analysts behind him."

Ed Legget 2015 - Expert verdict: Stick

Successful Standard Life UK Equity Unconstrained (GB00B0LD3B90) fund manager Ed Legget left the fund in July after seven years to take up the helm of Artemis UK Growth, formerly managed by high-profile manager Tim Steer. Back at Standard Life his role was filled by Wesley McCory, who ran the fund for three years before Mr Legget took it over. That meant that many experts were happy with the switch, although several doubted whether the Artemis Growth Fund would look like a different proposition as a result.

Mr Haynes said: "Ed Legget's departure is a big blow to Standard Life. It does have a matrix in place of stock screens but Mr Legget's skill was in his individual flair as a stockpicker and he took some very high-conviction positions. It is not a fund we hold, but we would have put it on review immediately if we did. We would expect Mr Legget's approach to be quite different to Tim Steer's, potentially higher beta and a slightly more aggressive style."

But Mr Dampier said: "Wesley was managing the fund before and we rated him in a major way back then. There is quite a team process at Standard Life. They do give their managers a lot of individual responsibility, but they use a matrix system and a winner list, too. So I have no problem with Wesley and would keep the fund because he ran it extremely successfully before. The bigger question is how will Mr Legget work at Artemis?

"He is taking over from Mr Steer and that is a very different style. Mr Steer has run the fund on a forensic accounting basis and Mr Legget is quite different. He might have to prove himself outside Standard Life. There is every chance he will be very successful, but I will want to talk to him."

Mr McDermott says: "The fund was successful under Mr McCoy the first time, then very successful under Mr Legget. We downgraded it to a hold when he left because we haven't met with Wes. We are giving it a six-month period of performance monitoring but the likelihood is that we will upgrade it to a buy."

The biggest switches of 2014: Where are they now and how are they performing?

If 2015 has proved a big year for manager departures, 2014 was even more dramatic. Those major switches have now had time to bed down and we asked which managers experts had chosen to follow and which they had remained invested with.

Neil Woodford's departure from Invesco Perpetual after 25 years was perhaps the most shocking exit to ever hit a fund house. When he left in April 2014, he controlled assets worth £33bn, making up nearly half of the group's assets under management. Invesco bled assets throughout last year as a result and more than £5bn was wiped off the Invesco Perpetual Income (GB00BJ04HW53) and Invesco Perpetual High Income (GB00BJ04HP86) funds. However, in his place longstanding Invesco Perpetual equities member Mark Barnett has been running them very successfully.

Between 1 April, when Mr Barnett took over, and 7 December, Invesco Perpetual Income has returned 15.1 per cent and Invesco Perpetual High Income has returned 16.1 compared with 1.8 per cent for the FTSE All-Share. Edinburgh Investment Trust (EDIN), which Mr Woodford also ran, has performed well too, returning 32.7 per cent since Mr Barnett took over, compared with 4.3 per cent for the FTSE All-Share.

Mr Woodford's new fund, CF Woodford Equity Income (GB00BLRZQC88), has also performed well, returning 23.1 per cent since inception on 2 June 2014. Mr Haynes says: "Mr Woodford was someone we backed, but we also kept some money with Mark Barnett because he had such a strong track record. We backed Woodford Equity Income at launch because it was a smaller fund and he was starting with a blank canvas and getting inflows, which are helpful for a fund manager rather than managing a fund leaking money.

"We've been happy with Mr Barnett, too. He is more defensive, but we expected that. Meanwhile, Mr Woodford has had defensive stocks in place but has really boosted the portfolio with his focus on unquoted stocks, which acts as a real boost."

Mr McDermott said: "We met Mark Barnett a number of times before Mr Woodford left and the two questions outstanding were could Mark manage a really big fund and how would the UK team do without Neil's input. But Mr Barnett has gone on to continue to outperform the sector and his indices and Neil's performance has been excellent.

"A lot of our clients have chosen to back both - they have left money with the older fund and added money to the newer fund."

Schroder UK Opportunities (GB0007218398), Schroder ISF UK Opportunities (LU0995122701) and Schroder UK Growth Fund (SDU) manager Julie Dean's exit proved more divisive.

Mr Haynes sold Julie Dean's fund. He said: "We bought the fund based on her long-term record and the business cycle process which she was integral to, and we just felt with Julie leaving that we didn't expect [Schroder] to continue to follow that process. It was a sale based on change of personnel and process."

Rating agency Morningstar has also been unconvinced by new manager Matt Hudson's takeover of the fund. Analyst Daniel Vaughan said: "We have high regard for Mr Hudson's ability as an equity income fund manager. However, we have limited evidence of his ability to run this unconstrained mandate and have some concerns around his workload at this time given the depleted business cycle team. The fund has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of neutral."

Since taking over, the fund has lagged behind its sector and the FTSE All-Share. From 8 September 2014 the fund lost 1.9 per cent compared with a loss of 1.6 per cent for the FTSE All-Share and positive return of 4.3 per cent across the Investment Association All Companies sector. By contrast, in the 10 years to 8 September 2014 the fund trounced the index and the sector, returning almost double the 121.2 per cent return of the UK All Companies sector at 213.8 per cent.

Ms Dean reappeared this year at the helm of new fund TM Sanditon UK fund (GB00BXRTP273) in June. But Mr Haynes says: "We didn't buy the Sanditon fund because it took a bit of time for her to reappear. We couldn't immediately switch so we moved into Miton UK Value Opportunities, which had been on our radar for a while."

One manager who has impressed has been new Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) manager Dale Nicholls, who took over from high-profile Anthony Bolton in April 2014. Mr Bolton's decision to step down followed a difficult period for the trust, which lost pace against its benchmark. Between the fund's launch in April 2007 and Mr Bolton's announcement, the trust's share price fell 9 per cent while the MSCI China index gained 3.5 per cent. The trust made up some of that performance before April, but since that point it has returned to strong performance. It held up against a major loss to the MSCI China, losing only 4.2 per cent compared with 15.8 per cent for the index.

One final manager who made the decision easy for experts was former Henderson European Special Situations manager Richard Pease, who left the fund house in 2014 but took his fund with him to new venture Crux Asset Management. Performance has been solid, with the fund returning 49.9 per cent against the FTSE World Europe ex UK's 34.9 per cent and experts are still keen.

Mr McDermott said: "We are supporters of the CRUX European Special Situations (GB00BTJRQ064) fund. We have known Richard since he was at Jupiter and then New Star and then Henderson. The strategy is totally about the manager and we are very comfortable with Richard Pease."