Why buy the ES R&M UK Equity Smaller Companies fund?
Here are five reasons why investors are paying close attention to Dan Hanbury's portfolio
Well-diversified smaller companies fund with excellent performance history
Multi-category and multi-style small cap fund. Using PVT approach, manager selects attractive stocks from Growth, Quality, Recovery and Asset-backed categories
Between 60-90 stocks, diversified between sectors, and styles
Team able to use experience to capitalise on nuances of smaller companies’ market
Medium-sized fund advantageous for sourcing liquidity.

Over the years we have found that companies that can deliver above average potential divide into four categories; these relate to where a company is in its ‘life cycle’
The delivery of strong revenue and profits growth
The UK equity market is an excellent investment opportunity...
The UK stock market is among the cheapest and most international developed markets in the world
The wide range of under-researched small cap stocks provide a great hunting ground for UK stock pickers
Post the Covid-19 crisis and Brexit, UK management teams can take advantage of a weaker sterling to deliver relatively strong earnings growth.
UK vs. MSCI World Average Valuation Premium

Source: MSCI, IBES, Morgan Stanley Research. Data to 5 October 2020. Average of Price to Earnings, Price to Book Value and Price to Dividends.
...and within the UK, smaller companies look set to outperform
A history of outperformance, particularly during a recovery
Valuations look attractive at present
UK smaller companies’ market and AIM often used as launchpad for global IPOs, providing additional interest for investors
Less sell-side coverage plus fewer managers searching for opportunities means skilled managers can add a lot more value
Active management can add alpha in a less liquid market where machines cannot reach.
Long-term outperformance of UK smaller companies

Source: Numis, as at December 2019.1 Includes the bottom 2% by value of companies on the LSE main market. 2 Includes the bottom 10% by value of companies on the LSE main market.
Highly credible firm and experienced fund manager
Boutique asset manager, run by founding partners, with a history of wealth generation for clients
Dan Hanbury – over 20 years’ experience, a Financial Express (FE) Alpha Manager nine times. In the 2020 FE Hall of Fame
Dan has outperformed in both bull and bear markets
Working within a talented investment team of five portfolio managers supported by seven analysts, all using the PVT (Potential, Valuation and Timing) framework
Highly experienced and well-respected small cap manager.

A systematic, robust and repeatable process
Quant analysis
Proprietary quantitative screening tool built in 2006.
Fundamental research and risk management
Technology-driven process is backed up by high quality fundamental research, portfolio construction and risk management.
Team
A team and process that is continuously evolving, improving and invested in.
Sustainability
Financially material sustainability factors are integrated into our fundamental research process.
A repeatable process that provides strong risk-adjusted returns over the medium to long term, allows us to “stick to our knitting” and avoid short-term distractions.

Strong risk-adjusted returns, low drawdowns
Strong risk-adjusted returns over and above that of the market during upside periods as well as protecting on the downside with some of the strongest drawdown characteristics in the sector.
The fund has good liquidity and is keenly priced – OCF of 85bps (B share class) or 57bps (discounted S share class).
Performance - ES R&M UK Equity Smaller Companies Fund

Source: FE fundinfo Analytics, B share class (Acc) net of 0.75% AMC. Performance to 31 October 2020. * ES R&M UK Equity Smaller Companies Fund inception 30 November 2006. Quartile ranking is calculated using FE fundinfo Analytics within the IA UK Smaller Companies sector. Any differences are due to rounding.
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