Funds Centre

Liontrust appoints new managers for three funds

Liontrust has appointed new managers for its First Income, First Growth and First Large Cap funds. The positions had been in doubt since an announcement that the existing managers, Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson, would be leaving the firm. Liontrust

has redistributed the funds amongst its existing fund management team.The new managers of the Liontrust First Income and First Large Cap funds are Gary West and James Inglis-Jones. They are experienced managers who are better known for running European funds (with some success), although Mr West has managed an equity income funds in the past. Their investment process is based around investing in companies with strong and reliable cash flow, an attribute which should lend itself well to equity income investing.The Liontrust First Growth Fund is now managed by Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh. They already manage two UK growth funds for Liontrust and performance has been good under their tenure. They will bring the same investment process to bear when running First Growth. They favour companies with strong competitive advantages, but where there is room for earnings growth to surpass the consensus forecast.We are pleased that the long term management of these funds has been cleared up, and in our opinion the new managers are all highly capable investors. It remains our view that the funds should be regarded as ‘holds’ for the time being. We will assess how the new managers get on with the portfolios over time before considering them for inclusion in the Wealth 150, our list of favourite funds in each sector.Stuart Goodwin, Analyst» Key Features of the Liontrust First Growth Fund» Key Features of the Liontrust First Large Cap Fund» Key Features of the Liontrust First Income Fund