F&C picks up the Gold Standard

F&C was awarded a Gold Standard Award at the Incisive Media awards ceremony held this year at the House of Commons in London. The Gold Standard Awards are designed to highlight financial services companies providing quality products and services to consumers, excelling in five key areas - financial strength, capability of the company to conduct business, service, fair value and trust.

"This is a tremendous achievement and is yet another firm indication that our new strategies are proving successful" , said Nick Criticos, Head of UK Retail and Investment Trusts at F&C. "We are especially proud to be recognised this year, when competition has been particularly tough, with more companies entering than ever. No other awards consider so many elements at the same time, making the Gold Standards one of the hardest, most sought after awards in the financial market place. Only 23 awards have been made since their inception" .

"We are delighted that the judges have recognised the progress we have made in offering intermediaries real support, not just in terms of comprehensive marketing and road shows but also business solutions designed to move their businesses forward" , added Criticos.

. and Bronze for the F&C US SmallCap Sicav fund

In the meantime, the institutional F&C US SmallCap Sicav fund has scooped a bronze award from L'Agefi, a French daily publication for professionals in the financial services industry. The fund was recognised for its outperformance and strategy, beating the market benchmark in risk management.

Nick Ford, fund manager of the F&C SmallCap fund said: "We are pleased that the consistent application of a successful approach has gained this recognition. The Fund aims to achieve long term capital growth through investment in smaller and medium sized quoted companies in the U.S. The companies we invest in must have four characteristics: a strong competitive position, free cash flow, management that own a significant stake in the company and shares that are cheap. Looking forward, we remain optimistic on the longer term view that the smaller company sector in the US will be a fruitful one in which to invest, as the secular trend that began six years ago looks as though it will continue for some time yet."

The fund has returned 88.9% over 5 years, outperforming the sector average by 27.5%, 118.7% over 4 years, outperforming the average by 35.4%, 55.1% over 3 years, outperforming the average by 15.9%, and 18.8% over 1 year, outperforming the average by 2.3%.