Buxton positioned to 'catch falling knives' on UK Alpha

Hoping for improved performance in 2016

Richard Buxton, manager of the £2.3bn Old Mutual UK Alpha fund, has said investors are "not prepared to catch falling knives" when it comes to UK equities.

Buxton (pictured), who is also chief executive of Old Mutual Global Investors, was speaking after his fund suffered a difficult 2015.  The Old Mutual UK Alpha fund has lost 2.5% over the year to 31 December, according to FE Trustnet, versus a UK All Companies sector average return of 4.9%. This places it fourth quartile in the sector over the period. However, the downturn in performance has not deterred the manager from taking a contrarian investment approach, buying into unloved mega-cap stocks such as BP and AstraZeneca.  He said: "The stretch between those companies which are re...