Argonaut European Income Fund

Argonaut Capital is delighted to announce that the Argonaut European Income Fund - the UK's first overseas equity income fund - celebrated its third anniversary on 15 December 2008. Since inception, the fund has returned 3.43%. It has outperformed the IMA Europe excluding UK sector average by more than 7% and has outperformed the average IMA UK equity income fund by 20.8%.

The fund, managed by Oliver Russ, has an impressive historic yield of 6.7% that compares favourably to the FTSE All-Share yield of 4.7%# and the UK Bank of England base rate currently at 2%. The fund has also delivered a rising and higher income than the average UK equity income fund. Over the past 12 months, income earned by the Argonaut fund stood at 4.5% compared to 4% from the average UK equity income fund.

Coinciding with the fund's third anniversary, Oliver Russ has been awarded a prestigious Citywire ‘A' rating that recognises his impressive three-year risk adjusted return. The fund has achieved its top quartile performance with one of the lowest standard deviations (level of volatility) in its sector.

Oliver Russ, manager of the Argonaut European Income Fund, says: "When we launched this fund three years ago there was a perception that Europe was not the best place to seek income as company management lacked UK plc's propensity to deliver cash to shareholders. Corporate Europe, however, has been focussing on delivering value to shareholders in recent years and dividend yields on the continent have now caught up with those in the UK.

"Another reason to consider Continental Europe is that it has approximately three times the number of high yielding stocks as the UK. A greater level of choice from countries at different stages in the economic cycle should help to provide plenty of opportunity to achieve an attractive and rising level of income over the coming years. UK equity income funds, on the other hand, are operating in a confined market where up to a third of dividends may be at risk next year.

"With European balance sheets looking stronger than they have been for a generation and equity on ludicrously cheap valuations, I believe we can continue to deliver a high level of income and am confident this will be accompanied by strong capital appreciation over the coming years."