SWIP Pan European Smaller Companies Fund ‘A’ rated

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership's (SWIP's) Pan European Smaller Companies fund has been awarded an A rating by Old Broad Street Research (OBSR), a leading qualitative investment research company in the UK retail funds market.

The SWIP Pan European Smaller Companies Fund, jointly managed by Rory Hammerson and Kathleen Dewandeleer, Investment Directors European Equities, offers investors exposure to a portfolio of 60-70 pan-European smaller companies. The fund is managed using SWIP's bottom-up approach, focusing on companies which have a long term earnings power not reflected in the current share price. It aims to deliver performance ahead of the MSCI European Small Cap Index over rolling three year periods.

Tony Maddock, Head of Retail Sales, at SWIP comments: "This award from OBSR is a significant endorsement for us and further reinforces SWIP's strong credentials in European equities. OBSR acknowledged the strength of our European equities team and their effective stock-picking skills in difficult market conditions. The fund benefits from SWIP's bottom-up, research-driven investment process which ensures the team are able to generate strong stock selection ideas. It's great to see independent recognition of this."

Rory Hammerson, Investment Director European Equities, at SWIP comments: "The recent European equities market resurgence has been encouraging. SWIP's challenge is not to be distracted by short term market volatility, but concentrate on the medium and long term fundamentals for European smaller companies' profitability. The economic climate remains uncertain. We maintain our conviction in our fundamental research process, which allows us to identify, analyse and invest in companies with long term earnings growth not reflected in today's share price."