This fund was renamed the UK Opportunities Fund on 21 January 2011. Prior to this it was known as the UK Special Situations Fund. Read more.
Fund overview
The Royal London UK Opportunities Fund is a concentrated, “best ideas” UK equity fund taking high conviction stock and sector positions based on the fund manager’s top down market view. The fund was launched in July 2007 and has been managed since this time by Derek Mitchell, a UK equity specialist with over 25 years’ fund management experience.
The UK Opportunities Fund invests across the entire UK equity market, giving Derek the freedom to exploit market conditions wherever they appear. Investing in a concentrated portfolio of 30-40 stocks, the fund aims to deliver long term capital growth by finding companies whose market value is below their long term worth and which have a catalyst to provide positive earnings surprises.
Manager
Derek Mitchell joined RLAM in July 2007 specifically to manage the newly launched Royal London UK Opportunities Fund (known then as the UK Special Situations Fund). In August 2009, he also took over responsibility for the Royal London UK Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
Derek came to RLAM from Rutherglen Capital where he spent nine months managing a directional equity global media hedge fund. Prior to this, he built up over 20 years’ experience at F&C Asset Management and its antecedent companies, ISIS Asset Management and Royal & Sun Alliance Investment Management, managing both institutional and retail portfolios with a particular emphasis on high alpha funds.
Investment approach
At the heart of Derek’s management style is his belief that in order to have a micro view you must first have a macro view. Identifying what is currently driving, and what will drive, the global economy is key to selecting the right sectors and companies. To this end Derek works closely with our economist, his fellow fund managers, external brokers and strategists in order to pinpoint economic drivers.
Having identified those sectors that are capable of delivering consistent earnings performance Derek ranks them on a variety of valuation criteria to determine which sectors to back with the most conviction. His final overlay is to identify those sectors or stocks that can benefit from existing or future themes such as emerging market growth and outsourcing.
The result of Derek’s evaluation of the macroeconomic environment and careful stock selection is a high conviction fund that provides investors access to his best stock ideas from across the UK equity market.