How much did fund size impact performance in 2015?

Largest IA funds surpass £15bn each

Jeremy Beckwith, director of Morningstar's UK manager research team, gives his review of the winners and losers from a turbulent 2015.

The two largest funds in the UK market enjoyed very different fortunes last year. Continued strong inflows into SLI Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) added £2.6bn into the UK version of the fund to November, which saw assets rise to £26.8bn, with total assets in the strategy now totalling over £44bn. But, in contrast, M&G Optimal Income saw net outflows to November of £6.2bn and its assets decline to £16.3bn. GARS' performance of 2.2% in 2015 was below its three-year average rolling target return of cash+5% gross of fees. Nevertheless, this was a reasonable outcome in a tric...