Moore celebrates managing Santander UK Growth Fund

Richard Moore assumed management of the Santander UK Growth Fund (formerly Abbey UK Growth Fund) on 16 July 2007.

Over six months, the fund is placed in the upper quartile in its sector. Richard benefits from the analysis and resource of Santander Asset Management UK’s extensive equity team, headed by John Bearman as well as the extensive resource offered by Santander Asset Management globally.

Says Moore: “A number of the investment decisions I made upon assuming management of the fund were important in the strong performance over the past six months. By taking advantage of food price inflation with overweight positions in food and beverage retailers, we have seen some positive returns, for example with Unilever and Scottish & Newcastle. The positioning towards telecoms has also been positive and I would expect both sectors to continue to perform well.

“Another part of the initial positioning taken was to reposition the portfolio away from housebuilders and financials including mortgage banks and into more defensive areas, overweighting oil and mining. This meant that the fund was well positioned to weather the volatility that came last August.

“I remain cautious on the market overall. I expect growth to slow over the rest of the year, but there will be interest rate cuts. These won’t have a noticeable effect on the economy until 2009 however.”

John Bearman said, “Moving the management of the UK Growth Fund in-house was a significant milestone in the development of Santander Asset Management’s UK operations. I am delighted that Richard has had such a successful start and am sure experience and expertise will continue to help us deliver superior long-term returns to investors.”