Featured Fund

Investment Objective:

The M&G Recovery Fund focuses on troubled companies where a good management team is making concerted efforts to turn the business around. The fund manager seeks opportunities from across the UK stockmarket and the portfolio will contain a wide and interesting mix of companies. The fund manager seeks to identify stocks whose share prices have fallen well below their true worth, rendering them good value. He is prepared to take a contrarian view and consider areas that are out of favour among investors. These can include restructuring stories, special situations and the seeking out of hidden value. The fund manager takes a flexible and pragmatic approach to stocks and aims to have a holding period of between three and five years. Company meetings and visits, as well as internal and external research, are used to identify stocks for inclusion in the portfolio. The fund manager considers it most important to meet the management of all the fund’s holdings personally, on a regular basis, ideally at their own premises. He will never invest in a stock without having met the management team first.

Gemini View

We believe the M&G Recovery Fund is one of the best funds available. It makes money in good years and loses less in the bad years and should be a core fund in any investor's portfolio. The fund's success is down to manager Tom Dobell's long term approach. While the average fund manager will hold stocks for six to 10 months, Dobell has a record of holding his for at least three to five years. This is a recovery fund and Dobell is looking for firms in the process of change and improvement but he isn't looking for quick gains. He remains committed to those companies, working with them through the recovery process. As we move into the recovery phase of the economic cycle now is the time for stock pickers. This fund is one of the most highly rated available and we’re confident the fund manager can find many investment opportunities despite the harsh economic backdrop. It’s important to remember the stock market and the economy are very different animals and do not always behave in the same manner.