- Launched in 1988, Russon said the fund’s multi-decade track record is one of its key differentiators to its competitors in the IA UK Equity Income peer group.
- “This heritage is proof of concept,” he said. “It is a heritage built on our lower beta approach to delivering consistent yield premium and capital appreciation through time and the track record speaks for itself.”
- In a practical sense, this is borne out by the fund’s large-cap bias, which Russon said feeds into the strategy’s return profile and sets it apart from many of its peers.
- The team’s location in Leeds, is another important differentiator to the strategy according to Russon.
- “We think of it as an advantage in two ways,” he said. “Firstly, by being outside of London, we can avoid getting drawn into bubbles and groupthink. Not being surrounded by those doing similar things is good at quietening the noise and the chitter chatter. Secondly, we invest in entities that play on the UK economy, and being outside of the M25 provides a different perspective for the economy as an investment destination.”
- A concentrated portfolio of some 45 stocks, Russon said the fund adopts a very active approach, with no tail of low-conviction ideas. “We have good active weightings in all the names we invest in,” he said. “Every stock is there to do a job.”