What is the optimum equity alpha strategy?

UK EQUITY ALPHA

Moving towards the end of the year, it is increasingly looking like 2013 will be a very strong year for UK equities, but where should investors have been investing for the best rewards? Neil Hermon and James Ross, managers of the Henderson UK Alpha fund, give us their views.

Which sectors have delivered the best alpha in 2013? Property is one of the sectors that is benefiting as the UK recovery gathers pace, particularly in the mid-cap space. At the start of the year, those who identified the potential for a housing market recovery and invested accordingly would have reaped rich rewards. The combination of still-cheap land, improving demand levels and constrained housing supply has resulted in a steep recovery in earnings for housebuilders. Both Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments have returned more than 60% this year. In fact, the whole sub-sector h...