Hargreaves Lansdown has removed the UBS UK Smaller Companies fund from its Wealth 150 recommendation list.
Meera Patel, senior analyst at Hargreaves, says the fund has struggled due to manager Frank Manduca's poor stock selection and his decision not to invest in mid-caps, which have fared better than small caps during the downturn. "The fund's objective allows it to invest in medium sized companies, which proved more resilient during the economic downturn compared to its smaller counterparts," says Patel. "Manduca did not make use of this flexibility preferring to keep the portfolio focused on the small end of the universe, and this has hindered overall performance compared to its peers."...
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