IFSL Evenlode Income

This fund’s philosophy is all about investing in quality. Hugh and Ben believe the market over-obsesses with short-term factors and under-rates quality as a result. They invest in high return capital-light businesses. Capital intensive parts of the market, such as oil and gas or mining, are completely ignored. Hugh and Ben also dislike excessive debt and the fund has very little in financials. These strict requirements result in a small investment universe of only 80 stocks from which the managers create a concentrated portfolio of 40 holdings. This fund has a clear and proven investment process, which has consistently delivered for investors since it launched.

Hugh Yarrow, Chris Moore, Ben Peters

Hugh Yarrow, the lead manager, graduated from Edinburgh University with a first class degree in philosophy and mathematics. After managing equity income funds for Rathbones for seven years, he joined Wise Group in 2009 and launched the Evenlode Income fund in October of the same year.

Co-manager, Ben Peters, has been an analyst on Evenlode Income since its launch and became co-manager in 2012. He gained an MSc in theoretical physics from Imperial College London, as well as a Doctorate of Philosophy in nano electronics from the University of Oxford. In 2017, Ben was made CEO of Evenlode Investments, which is part of the Wise Group. Chris Moore joined Evenlode in 2018 and is Head of Research. He previously worked at Investec Bank and Berenberg as an equity research analyst, prior to which he worked at Deloitte and PwC. He is a fully qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.

The managers are not afraid to radically depart from their benchmark and ignore entire sectors in this fund. The investment process is extremely well defined and is based on the simple, but effective, idea that over the long run quality will outperform. This high conviction, long-term approach is refreshing to see. IFSL Evenlode Income’s universe is relatively small, although this is somewhat mitigated by the managers investing in some overseas stocks.