The Downing UK Micro-Cap Growth Fund, managed by award winning fund manager Judith MacKenzie* , has re-opened to new investments. The £20 million fund which has been managed by MacKenzie and her team for eight years, was soft closed in June 2017 to protect the interests of its investors as it reached capacity.

Judith MacKenzie comments:

“Despite a challenging political and economic backdrop for most asset classes, we believe that this fund will continue to offer the potential to deliver attractive returns to investors. As bottom-up stock-pickers, we focus on quality businesses with strong balance sheets and earnings profiles that we find attractive. We value businesses based on their cash flows after maintenance capital expenditure, so we also look for sensible capital allocation and returns on invested capital as a measure of the quality of management and decision-making.”

The fund aims to invest in a concentrated portfolio of 25-30 companies, with holdings typically under £150 million market capitalisation. MacKenzie employs a private equity style investment process and this aims to help manage risk and drive returns for investors. With a keen focus on proprietary research and due diligence the managers seek to understand the businesses in which they invest to the highest degree. This approach allows her team to manage this high conviction portfolio with relatively fewer holdings compared to some of our peers. While the perceived concentration risk is higher, we seek to mitigate this through a detailed understanding of the businesses and buying at a discount to our intrinsic valuations.

MacKenzie concludes:

“The fund’s focus is on delivering consistent outperformance over the longer term; in the five years to January 2019, the fund has delivered returns of 40.88% versus the benchmark’s 18.78%, and in the period since Downing assumed management of the fund in February 2011 it has generated returns of 102.1% against the benchmark return of 61.4%** We believe this sits comfortably with the fund’s target return of 15% p.a. compound over the long term.

Important notice:

This article is for information purposes, should not be regarded as investment or taxation advice and no reliance should be placed upon it. Capital is at risk and returns are not guaranteed. The value of investments and any income derived from may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Any personal opinions expressed are subject to change and should not be interpreted as advice or a recommendation. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Downing does not offer investment or tax advice or make recommendations regarding investments. 

* Named Small Cap Fund Manager of the Year, Small Cap Awards 2015 and Small Cap Awards 2013 for the Downing UK Micro-Cap Growth Fund

** Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance