RLAM's UK Special Situations Fund celebrates performance

The £393m Royal London UK Special Situations Fund has enjoyed excellent relative performance since its launch on 20th July 2007.

The fund has made the best of challenging market conditions, outperforming its IMA UK All Companies peer group by 6.4% p.a. over three years to achieve a top decile sector ranking.

Citywire AAA rated fund manager, Derek Mitchell, has constructed a concentrated "best ideas" portfolio of around 30-40 holdings drawn from across the market cap spectrum. His high conviction approach places great emphasis on identifying the key macro drivers for the UK economy. From here, he is happy to take significant overweight or underweight sector positions relative to the Fund's FTSE All Share Index, while placing particular emphasis on earnings momentum in individual stock selection.

His active approach has served him well over the last three years, taking a defensive stance ahead of the bear market of late 2007 and 2008 but reorientating the fund at the start of 2009 in anticipation of improving market sentiment.

Ian Goulsbra, Head of Wholesale Relationships, commented: "Derek has steered a course through the huge volatility of the past three years to deliver excellent results for our clients. His experience and proven investment process have allowed him to get the best out of one of the most testing periods for equity markets in living memory. The Royal London UK Special Situations Fund has been a great addition to RLAM's award winning equity fund range and we continue to see significant interest from clients in Derek's high conviction approach."

Derek Mitchell added: "The UK Special Situations Fund is the expression of my best ideas from across the UK equity market, delivered in a tightly focused, concentrated portfolio. I am very pleased with the fund's performance since launch and will be maintaining my current cyclical bias, based on improving economic indicators, to target future growth for investors from here."