Online fund supermarket, Bestinvest, has published the latest edition of its infamous Spot the Dog report this weekend. The report names and shames those investment funds available to the investing public, with track records of consistent underperformance in their respective markets. This time last year, the report called out the Woodford Equity Income fund, which then went on to suspend several months later.
This time round, Bestinvest has identified 91 funds that meet its’ dog fund criteria. This is a big increase from the 59 funds that appeared in their last report, six months ago. The level of assets held in dog funds has also increased significantly since last summer, with the funds in this report totalling £43.9 billion, up from £32.6 billion in their last report.
The North American sector shows the highest proportion of dog funds, with some 30% of funds in the eligible universe falling foul of Bestinvest’s criteria. Some way behind comes the European sector, where 19% of funds being rated as dog funds. Together, the combined UK fund sectors include 22 dog funds, with the pack weighing in at a hefty £20.4 billion, although the UK Smaller Companies sector, where active managers enjoy a high success rate of beating the index, has fared well, showing an absence of dog funds.
It’s not all bad news though. The report also gives treats for good behaviour to many fund groups which have avoided appearing on the list.
You can read the full report HERE www.bestinvest.co.uk
