Polar Capital's Godber and Hamilton on 'frustrating' investment errors in H1

Caught out by sharp rally

Polar Capital managers George Godber and Georgina Hamilton have admitted to making mistakes in the first half of the year, leading to an "immensely frustrating" period for the pair's UK Value Opportunities fund.

Although the fund has outperformed over one year to 18 July, returning 10.9% versus returns of 9% by the IA UK All Companies sector, according to FE, it underperformed in the first half of the year - losing 0.4% versus the sector gain of 2.6%.  The FTSE 100 saw a sharp rise between 26 March and 21 May but, although the fund performed well earlier in the year, it lagged this 13% rally. Looking at their holdings, areas where the portfolio was underweight, such as food retail, pharmaceuticals and oil, were those that performed well during the period, helped by the rising oil price and a ...