Brexit four years on – UK smaller companies dominate best UK funds
UK smaller companies have vastly outperformed their larger counterparts on the FTSE 100 and 250 since the Brexit referendum, new data from investment platform Willis Owen reveals.
In the four years since the vote on the UK’s membership of the European Union, by far the best domestic investments have been funds that invest in small and micro-cap companies, the data shows.
10 best-performing funds
|
UK Funds |
Custom Period Performance |
|
TM Cavendish AIM TR in GB |
91.88 |
|
MI Chelverton UK Equity Grown in GB |
79.38 |
|
FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth in GB |
74.67 |
|
Liontrust UK Micro Cap in GB |
68.76 |
|
TB TB Amati UK Smaller Companies in GB** |
64.44 |
|
Liontrust UK Smaller Companies TR in GB |
62.78 |
|
ASI UK Smaller Companies in GB |
61.95 |
|
Merian UK Smaller Companies Focus TR in GB |
60.4 |
|
CFP SDL UK Buffettology TR in GB |
59.94 |
|
Slater Recovery in GB |
59.1 |
In fact, of the top 10 best-performing UK funds since the 2016 referendum, eight of them specifically invest in smaller firms.
The best-performing fund in that time, TM Cavendish AIM TR, which invests in firms listed on the UK’s Alternative Investment Market, has returned 91.9%.
It is followed by MI Chelverton UK Equity Growth, which invests in both small and medium-sized firms, which has returned 79.4% over the same period.
FP Octopus UK Micro Cap Growth (up 74.7% since the referendum), Liontrust UK Micro Cap (up 68.8%) and TB Amati UK Smaller Companies (up 64.4%) – all of which invest in smaller firms – make up the top five performing funds since 23 June 2016.
Out of the rest of the top 10 performing funds during the period, only CFP SDL UK Buffettology TR (up 59.9%) and Slater Recovery (up 59.1%) do not solely invest in smaller companies.
The performance of small and micro companies may come as a surprise to many investors given that many experts predicted they would be most exposed by any economic damage caused by Brexit – at least in the short-term.
However, Adrian Lowcock, Head of Personal Investing at Willis Owen, believes smaller companies have many advantages over their larger counterparts that have allowed them to thrive in the past four years.
He says: “Many predicted that small UK companies would be the biggest victims of Brexit as their success is often linked to health of the overall economy.
“But that theory ignores the fact that many small companies in this country don’t trade with the European Union and therefore operate only domestically. That means they are unaffected by cross-border trade barriers.
“Also, in our experience, smaller companies are often self-helpers and innovators; they don’t wait around for the rules to change. Instead, they are able to adapt and find new opportunities. That can be a very useful trait to have when the outlook is so uncertain.”
-Ends-
Enquiries
Adrian Lowcock, Chris Tuite
Head of personal investing Director & Head of Consumer Finance
Willis Owen MRM London
07849 846387 020 3326 9925
Adrian.lowcock@willisowen.co.uk 07471350180
Notes to Editors
Willis Owen is one of the UK’s leading online investment service providers. Founded more than 20 years ago Willis Owen now has around £1bn of funds under management and has acted as an intermediary for over 150,000 customers and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of investments,
Willis Owen Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.