Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Trust has reviewed its investment management arrangements and decided to appoint Artemis Fund Managers, where Mark Niznik and Will Tamworth will co-manage the portfolio.
There will be no change to the core investment objective and policy – achieving long-term total return for shareholders primarily by investment in a broad cross-section of small to medium sized UK quoted companies.
Mark and Will have worked as co-managers at Artemis since 2015 and have considerable prior expertise in the UK small-cap equity space.
The managers will employ a research-driven, stock picking process to select portfolio companies from the ~1,000 companies that make up the smallest 10% of the UK market by market capitalisation. They look for good businesses, with attractive financials and seek to acquire them at reasonable valuations. The portfolio will typically contain between 50 and 70 stocks, constructed without reference to any benchmark, though remaining economically diversified.
The board believes that the change in investment manager will provide the following benefits to shareholders
- Top quartile track record: The Artemis team have a strong investment track record. The open-ended Artemis UK Smaller Companies Fund is ranked top quartile over 3, 5 and 10 years relative to the IA UK Smaller Companies peer group (to 29 November 2024). Since taking over management of the Artemis UK Smaller Companies Fund in 2011 the team has returned 259% compared to 185%% for the Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies (ex IT) Index and 181% for the IA UK Smaller Companies sector
- Reduction in fees: Artemis will charge a management fee of 0.65% of net assets up to £50m and 0.55% thereafter (compared to the fee of 0.75% of gross assets under Invesco)
- Waiver of management fees: Artemis will waive the first nine months of management fees post appointment
- Alignment: The fund managers, alongside other individuals at Artemis, have committed to invest a significant amount into the company
- Marketing: Artemis’s distribution capability will assist in finding new demand for the company’s shares
[This came as a surprise to me, although the trust’s five year NAV returns are pretty poor – ranking 21st of 23 trusts. The commitment to tackle the discount will be welcome – currently it trades on almost 16% discount to NAV. Mark has been at Artemis since 2007, but I remember him as manager of this trust back in the 1990s.]
IPU : Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Cos switches manager to Artemis
