Lees' UK Equity fund awarded ‘AA' rating

The F&C UK Equity Fund, managed by Peter Lees, has been awarded a new 'AA‘ rating from Standard and Poor's Fund Research.

Lees, who is Head of UK Equities at F&C, was appointed lead manager in April 2009 and moved the Fund's strategy to mirror one he had already implemented successfully on his UK institutional high alpha product over the last 12 years. Lees, who has over 24 years of investment experience, adopts a bottom-up approach to stockpicking for the Fund, which is a relatively concentrated portfolio of 40-60 high-conviction companies.

The implementation of Lees' strategy has marked a turnaround in the Fund's performance. Having performed slightly under the benchmark in previous years, under Lees' tenure the Fund has returned 31.6% and 25.22% in 2009 and 2010 respectively, versus the benchmark FTSE All Share returns of 30.1% and 14.5% over the same periods.

Performance has been driven largely by positive stock selection, such as Lees' avoidance of the ‘big name' oil companies - Shell and BP - preferring companies further down the market capitalisation scale which he believes offer greater growth potential, such as Tullow Oil and Bowleven.

S&P's analysts were impressed with Lees' "experience, clear approach and strong track record".

Lees commented: "This is an important endorsement which recognises both the evolution of the investment process and strong Fund performance. The long-term emphasis remains on managing a portfolio of highconviction, high-quality names and harnessing what we believe are the best investment opportunities across the entire UK equity market."