Fundsmith Equity Fund Assigned Gold Rating by Morningstar and Wins Two Citywire UK Awards
03 May 2017: The Fundsmith Equity Fund has been awarded a Gold rating by Morningstar and won two awards at the recent Citywire UK Awards.
Morningstar described the fund as having an “incredibly strong track-record”, which has “comfortably outperformed the MSCI World benchmark and is the top-performing fund within the Morningstar Category over three and five years”. Morningstar concludes that Fundsmith has “added significant value above and beyond the fund’s investment style bias” and “performance has held up even through less favourable market conditions, notably in 2016”.
The Morningstar Analyst Rating Scale assigns ratings to funds that Morningstar’s analysts believe will perform better over time when compared to similar investments. A gold rated fund is defined as a “best-of-breed fund that distinguishes itself across the five pillars and has garnered the analysts’ highest level of conviction”. The five pillars, which Morningstar views as crucial to predicting the future success of a fund, are: “People, Parent, Process, Performance, and Price”.
At last month’s Citywire UK Awards, Fundsmith’s Chief Executive Terry Smith was recognised as an individual winner and the Fundsmith Equity Fund won the Fund groups section, both in the ‘Equity – Global’ category. Citywire selected the winners by reviewing all UK registered funds and identifying the top fund groups on a risk-adjusted return basis over the past three years to 31 December 2016 in each sector.
Fundsmith Equity Fund
The Fundsmith Equity Fund offers investors a high quality, concentrated portfolio of 20-30 resilient global growth companies which are held for the long term. Since inception to the 31st March 2017, the fund’s AUM has grown to £10.3bn and it has delivered a total return of 221.4%.
Terry Smith, Founder and Chief Executive of Fundsmith, said:
“I am delighted that the Fund’s consistent out-performance and simple investment approach has been recognised by both Morningstar and Citywire. The upgrade of a bronze rating straight to a gold by Morningstar is particularly pleasing. While our strategy is simple, it requires rigorous analysis and strict discipline to deliver this level of performance for our investors.”
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About Fundsmith
Fundsmith is focused on delivering superior investment performance at a reasonable cost. It was established to be different from its peers so as to achieve a different result in line with Sir John Templeton’s axiom that “If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.” The rigorous research process of Fundsmith is central to what we do. We apply exacting standards to potential investments to produce a portfolio of resilient businesses with excellent performance. Minimising the costs we incur on behalf of our customers in implementing our strategy also sits at the heart of our philosophy.
Fundsmith was established in 2010 by Terry Smith. The business is owned and controlled by its partners, who have worked closely together over many years, and is headquartered in London with an office in Connecticut, USA. It is structured to survive Terry Smith’s demise and continue with the same investment philosophy. All partners of the firm have a significant co-investment in our Funds delivering a clear alignment of interest. Ancillary activities are outsourced to some of the world's leading providers in order to deliver high quality operations whilst allowing the Fundsmith team to focus on the investment analysis and portfolio management and customer care. As of 31st March 2017 we manage over £10.3bn in global equities on behalf of some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated wealth managers, families, private banks, financial intermediaries and individuals invested in our four funds: Fundsmith Equity Fund (UK OEIC), Fundsmith Equity Fund Feeder (Luxembourg SICAV), Fundsmith Equity Fund L.P. (Delaware L.P.) and the Fundsmith Emerging Equities Trust plc (London Listed Investment Trust).
Disclaimer: A Key Investor Information Document and an English language prospectus for the Fundsmith Equity Fund are available via the Fundsmith website or on request and investors should consult these documents before purchasing shares in the fund. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise and be affected by changes in exchange rates, and you may not get back the amount of your original investment. Fundsmith LLP does not offer investment advice or make any recommendations regarding the suitability of its product. This financial promotion is intended for UK residents only and is communicated by Fundsmith LLP which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.