JPMAM scoops best group award at Investment Week Awards 2007

JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM), the leading investment trust provider, is delighted to announce that the investment house has won the ‘Group of the Year’ award at the prestigious Investment Week Investment Trusts of the Year Awards 2007.

JPMAM met Investment Week’s strict judging criteria and clearly impressed the panel, comprising top investment trust buyers and investors, to scoop the much deserved accolade. The judging panel included Julie Dent from F&C, Laurie Petar from Jupiter, and David Marchant from Halifax, Nick Greenwood from iimia, Progressive's James Carthew and Citywall's Peter Metcalfe, plus Investment Week's editor James Smith and news editor Mark Preskett.

To succeed, JPMAM which manages £7.12bn of assets in investment trusts, had to demonstrate the most consistent performance across its range of investment trusts. To be considered for this award, all investment trusts had to deliver a three-year track record and have assets of more than £15m.

A quantitative score was also generated for each investment trust which was derived from a detailed quants screening process. This involved looking at NAV and share price returns generated in each of the three discrete years to 31 July 2007, with emphasis on most recent performance. All performance data was supplied by the AIC (Association of Investment Companies) and Fundamental Data. Panellists also considered how well each trust managed its own structure and discount control mechanism.

Trusts in the bottom half of the AIC sector over the 12 months to 31 July 2007 were then stripped out to reveal the top-performing vehicles in the various sectors, from which the panel drew up a shortlist. Finally, the shortlisted trusts had to submit detailed questionnaires explaining how they achieved their performance.

David Barron, head of investment trusts at JPMAM, who received the award said: “This is a tremendous accolade for us. It is fantastic to be recognised by the investment industry’s premier publication for the hard work that our team has put in over the years to provide shareholders with the best value. The portfolio management teams have consistently delivered good performance across a wide range of asset classes and strategies, and JPMAM as a global investment house, is 100% committed to providing the very best service to our clients, now and in the future.”