FE fundinfo reveals 2020 Alpha Manager Award Winners

Julian Fosh and Anthony Cross from Liontrust have been jointly named as the ‘Best Alpha Manager’ at the 2020 Alpha Manager Awards, run by leading fund data and technology company, FE fundinfo.

Watch the Alpha Manager Awards 2020

The Alpha Manager awards, which celebrate the industry’s most visionary fund managers from among those who have been able to consistently create risk-adjusted alpha, also conferred 11 other awards across different sector categories.

Julian Fosh and Anthony Cross also picked up the ‘Best Alpha Manager – UK Equities’ award, with their Liontrust UK Growth fund having returned 64.41% over a five year period up until the end of 2019, over 20% more than its IA UK All Companies sector benchmark during the same time period.

Commenting on their awards, Charles Younes, Research Manager at FE Investments, said:

“Congratulations to both Julian and Anthony for their resounding success throughout 2019. Last year saw high levels of volatility across the markets, so to have consistently delivered alpha returns in this environment is a fantastic achievement. Not only is their Liontrust UK Growth fund on our Approved List of funds, but in our recent Crowns rebalance, Liontrust also came top in terms of groups with the highest amount of 5 Crown-rated funds, so these awards and their funds’ high performance is testament to their ‘Economic Advantage’ process and some impressive stock picking.”

There were more joint winners for the ‘Best New Alpha Manager’ award, which recognises the best performing managers to have made the list for the first time. The award went to David Keetley and Stephen McCormick from Polar Capital, who had the highest Alpha Manager score among all of the first-time FE fundinfo Alpha Managers in 2020.

Elsewhere, Richard Woolnough from M&G UK won in the ‘Best Alpha Manager – Sterling Fixed Income’ category, having outperformed the sector average and added value with effective credit selection in corporate bond and asset backed security markets, while Richard Hodges from Nomura Asset Management was successful in the ‘Best Alpha Manager – Sterling Strategic Bonds’ category, with his flexible Global Dynamic Bond fund benefitting from a flexible approach to asset allocation.

While the UK suffered a turbulent 2019, markets abroad faced different but equally challenging pressures. Nonetheless a number of Alpha Managers emerged from international markets and asset classes, with Nick Ford and Hugh Grieves from Premier Miton winning in the ‘Best Alpha Manager – US Equities’ category, while Ezra Sun from Veritas won the ‘Best Alpha Manager – Asia Pacific Equities, including Japan’ award, which includes managers from the IA Asia-Pac ex-Japan, IA Japan and IA Japanese Smaller Companies sectors.

Commenting on Ezra Sun’s victory, Tanvi Kandlur, Senior Fund Analyst at FE Investments, said:

“Since joining Veritas in 2004, Ezra Sun has delivered consistent outperformance for Veritas Asian compared to its benchmark and the IA Asia Pacific ex-Japan sector. This has largely been driven by superior stock selection across the portfolio and was one of the top performers in its sector in 2019. The fund is also on our approved list, having protected capital in what was a difficult first quarter this year, but subsequently also capturing the rebound and more when markets rerated in the second quarter.”

The winners of FE fundinfo’s Alpha Manager Awards are determined by narrowing down the total list of FE fundinfo Alpha-rated managers to a shortlist of the highest-scoring managers per category. Once the shortlist has been refined, FE fundinfo’s panel apply a qualitative analysis overlay to select the industry’s most visionary fund managers.

The 2020 Alpha Manager winners in full:

Best Alpha Manager, European Equities

Name	Group
Comgest European Team		Comgest Asset Management International

Best Alpha Manager, Global Developed Equities

Name	Group
James Thomson		Rathbone Unit Trust Management

Best Alpha Manager, Absolute Returns

Name	Group
Ben Wallace & Luke Newman		Janus Henderson Investors

Best Alpha Manager, UK Equities

Name	Group
Julian Fosh & Anthony Cross		Liontrust Asset Management

Best Alpha Manager, Global Emerging Markets Equities

Name	Group
Nick Price		Fidelity International

Best Alpha Manager, US Equities

Name	Group
Nick Ford & Hugh Grieves		Premier Miton

Best Alpha Manager, Asia Pacific Equities, including Japan

Name	Group
Ezra Sun		Veritas Asset Management

Best Alpha Manager, Sterling Fixed Income

Name	Group
Richard Woolnough		M&G Investments

Best Alpha Manager, Sterling Strategic Bonds

Name	Group
Richard Hodges		Nomura Asset Management

Best Alpha Manager, Mixed Assets

Name	Group
Mike Fox		Royal London Asset Management

Best Alpha Manager, New

Name	Group
David Keetley & Stephen McCormick		Polar Capital

Best Alpha Manager of the year 2020

Name	Group
Julian Fosh & Anthony Cross		Liontrust Asset Management

For more information on the 2020 Alpha Manager Awards, please visit: www.alphamanagerawards.com