Andrew Jackson, manager of the Premier Miton UK Value Opportunities fund, will retire at the end of the year with Allianz’s Matthew Tillett taking the helm.
Tillett, who was the portfolio manager of the Brunner investment trust until he stepped down in July this year, will join the management team from October and will work alongside Jackson for the remainder of his time at the company.
It marks the second significant manager change on the fund over the past 10 years. Jackson took the reins from George Godber and Georgina Hamilton when the pair moved to Polar Capital. Since they left, the fund’s assets under management have dropped from more than £850m to £450m today.
Under his tenure, the fund is up 49.6%, beating the IA UK All Companies sector by a 14.1 percentage points. Returns peaked at 108.8% in August 2021, which was twice as high as the peer group’s 52% return at the time, but the wider market drawdown has hampered performance since.
Total return of fund vs sector since Jackson took over
Source: FE Analytics
Despite the volatility in markets over the past couple of years, Jackson’s FE fundinfo Alpha manager status means that he has beaten his peer group over the long-run and maintained a consistently high alpha score in rising and falling markets.
Since 2013, Tillett has managed the Allianz UK Listed Opportunities fund, which is also situated in the IA UK All Companies sector.
It has been a top-quartile performer over the past five years, while the Premier Miton UK Value Opportunities fund that Tillett is inheriting was in the third quartile over that period.
Since taking charge, the fund is up 110.5% and has beaten the sector average by 49.6 percentage points, as the below chart shows.
Total return of fund vs sector since Tillett took over
Source: FE Analytics
Although the market is struggling at the moment, Tillett said that he wants to bring his experience in the sector to his new role at Premier Miton UK Value Opportunities.
He said: “Even amid current macroeconomic and inflationary challenges, the UK is, and I believe will continue to be, an exceptional market in which active value investing can deliver superior returns to investors."