FE alpha managers Hall of Fame revealed

Rankings released today (March 25) showed Schroders' Andrew Brough and Jenny Jones, Woodford Investment Management's Neil Woodford, and Jupiter's John Chatfeild-Roberts had all retained their record as an ‘FE Alpha Manager’ for the fifth year in a row.

This was based on the risk-adjusted alpha they generated and the consistency of their outperformance against their benchmarks.

The ratings are judged by a manager’s track record since 2000, with extra weighting given to those with the longest record.

New on the list of alpha managers were Allianz Global Investors' Bryan Agbabian and Bryan Agbabian, Baillie Gifford's Spencer Adair, and Columbia Threadneedle Investments' Mark Heslop among others.

Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing at Willis Owen, said the FE list recognised asset manager performance over the long-term, which was to be commended.

He said: "It is interesting to see Neil Woodford in there, despite having recently had a rough period. As much as this may seem a surprise, it gives you some perspective over a manager’s longer career which hopefully enables investors to better identify the long-term winners.

"However, the list doesn’t take into account other factors such as managers switching companies, or any related change to accessible resources, or the structure of the fund."

Mr Lowcock said there were several names on the wider list that he considered to be excellent managers, citing Marlborough Fund Managers’ Giles Hargreave, Crux Asset Management’s Richard Pease and Jupiter’s John Chatfeild Roberts by name.

According to FE, 200 FE Alpha Manager ratings were issued in the 2019 rebalance, which saw 54 new entrants, 38 of whom had never previously been awarded the rating.

Mr Lowcock said it was good to see some less-familiar names recognised for the first time alongside some names who will be instantly familiar to advisers.

"Luke Kerr (Merian Global Investors), Jeremy Podger (Fidelity), Mark Heslop (Columbia Threadneedle) and Alex Savvides (JO Hambro Capital Management) are all well-known names but many are less familiar," he said.

The full list is to be displayed at the FE Alpha Manager awards ceremony at the London Symphony Orchestra, St Luke’s on Thursday 16 May 2019.

The managers with five consecutive years in FE's 'Hall of Fame' were:

New entrants in 2019 were: