Neptune's Martin ramps up conviction positions in UK Opps overhaul

Neptune Investment Management's Mark Martin has overhauled the £66m UK Opportunities fund since taking over as lead manager, turning it into a higher conviction portfolio with fewer positions.

Though he only took over the portfolio this month, the group's head of UK equities has been busy "trimming the tail" of small positions in the fund to increase concentration in his best FTSE 100 positions. He has cut the number of stocks from 51 to 42, closing out positions in a number of "very small-cap companies" that added up to only a small proportion of the fund. "It was more company specific rather than reducing weightings in particular sectors," said Martin. "We want to increase concentration and conviction and eventually get the number of holdings down to between 35 and 40." ...