One of the fallen angels of British stockpicking is trying to make a comeback. Tom Dobell, a former manager of the M&G Recovery Fund, has won regulatory au
Home / News / M&G promotes pair of deputies to lead managers in UK equity desk shake-up
M&G promotes pair of deputies to lead managers in UK equity desk shake-up
Elina Symon and James Taylor both joined the fund house as graduate trainees
M&G Investments has promoted a pair of deputy managers to pole position on a UK equity income and smaller companies fund as it shakes-up its UK equity desk.
Elina Symon (pictured) will take over for incumbent manager Michael Stiasny on the £511m UK Income Distribution fund with immediate effect, while Stiasny becomes deputy manager. M&G said the promotion is in recognition of Symon’s significant contribution to the fund since becoming deputy manager in March 2019.
Neil Woodford’s comeback: Four City fund managers who also said sorry
News that the disgraced fund manager Neil Woodford is plotting a comeback may have raised eyebrows in the City, but he is not the first stockpicker who said sorry for his vehicle’s performance, and who did manage to stay in the game.
Woodford gave an emotional interview over the weekend in which he apologised for the collapse of his investment company and said he is working to set up a comeback firm by launching a Jersey-based fund focused on biotech assets.
It was not, however, the first time Woodford apologised. In September 2017 he said sorry for a spell of underperformance, which ultimately was not turned around. At the time he even responded to critics who asked whether he had ‘lost it’.
M&G and Jupiter languishing near the bottom of Fundcalibre’s index
M&G Recovery fund and Jupiter UK Growth have dragged the fund houses’ average performance down
M&G and Jupiter have consistently underperformed rival fund houses over the last five years, according to data from Fundcalibre’s latest Fund Management Equity Index.
Bailie Gifford topped the chart for the first time, with its average fund returning 82.2% more than peers in the five years to 31 December 2020, the highest five year outperformance in the history of the survey. The Edinburgh fund house thrust three time winner Morgan Stanley into second place, with its five year average outperformance of 73%.