Smaller Companies

M&G has hired Matthew Cable as deputy manager on its £370m Smaller Companies fund following a tough spell which has seen it drop down the rankings.

Peter Webb, the manager of the two worst-performing funds of 2012, has described his frustrations in trying to sell many of the "illiquid" positions he inherited on the portfolios, and his hopes for a turnaround in performance this year.

Smaller companies and recovery stocks were highly featured in wealth managers' best performing funds of the year, much to the chagrin of those continuing to back defensive names.

The managers of the £83m Aviva Investors UK Smaller Companies fund, Toby Belsom and Robin West, name five UK smaller companies set to benefit from an uptick in consumer spending.

Investec has extended its Latin American equity range with the launch of a smaller companies fund run out of the Americas by LatAm specialist Compass Group.

The Share Centre has ditched T1PS Investment Management's Tom Winnifrith as manager of its two small-cap mandates in favour of former Unicorn founder Peter Webb.

Equity investors who ‘sell in May and go away' look well placed for a third consecutive year of outperformance, according to research from Dennehy Weller's FundExpert.co.uk platform.

SMALL-CAPS

Small-cap star Harry Nimmo has revealed his investment trust took a hit from the sharp sell-off in online clothes retailer ASOS in the last six months of 2011.

Paul Marriage, manager of Cazenove's £91m UK Smaller Companies fund, names five smaller companies set to outperform in 2012.