2022 'tricky' year for Blue Whale as it underperforms sector for the first time

Held up YTD

clock • 4 min read

Selling out of FAANG stocks was "correct" for the LF Blue Whale Growth fund in 2022, but it still was not enough to salvage returns, with the fund underperforming the IA Global sector for the first time since its inception.

The £775m fund lost 27.6% in 2022, versus a fall of 11.1% for the IA Global sector, according to the firm. This was a very different outcome to the "blissfully uneventful" year the fund's manager had been hoping for, after an admittedly "tumultuous" 2020 and 2021. BoE's Mann: Bank rate has further to rise Stephen Yiu, the fund's manager and chief investment officer at Blue Whale Capital, admitted growth funds like his lost out in favour of value biased portfolios last year during market's rotation to value. Writing his 'Year in Review' letter to investors, Yiu made the case for ...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Funds

Assets in the fund became "too few to keep the fund alive" following investors pulling their capital, however, the fund is still offered in separate accounts and LPs.

William Blair IM pulls UCITS China offering following 'key investor' withdrawals

'Assets too few to keep the fund alive'

clock 05 January 2024 • 1 min read
Of the firm's 124 equity categories, 19 returned a net negative performance in 2023, with the bottom ten dominated by Asia exposures.

Asian funds endure poor performance in 2023 as local currency bonds thrive

European fund performance review

Elliot Gulliver-Needham
clock 05 January 2024 • 2 min read
Royal London Short Money Market first took the top spot in October 2023, where it remains, while the £22.7bn Terry Smith fund has since been further overtaken by L&G Global Technology Index and Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity.

Fundsmith Equity slips further down ii most bought list

Falls to fourth place

Elliot Gulliver-Needham
clock 04 January 2024 • 2 min read
Trustpilot