Artemis UK Smaller Companies Fund
Fund Manager's Comment
Data as at 30 April 2012
The fund did relatively well in April, posting a reasonable positive return against a falling smaller companies index. This was helped by an extraordinary share price rise after a placing of new shares in Mike Danson’s Progressive Digital Media. Mike built up his previous company, Datamonitor, before selling it to Informa in 2007 – making investors handsome returns. He started Progressive shortly after with a view to building a similarly high quality, subscriptions and internet-delivered media business. Although we are wary of Mike’s controlling interest in the group, his track record and current progress with Progressive tempted us into the recent placing. The 50% share price rise since is probably more a function of a thin market – but also of investors’ respect for Mike’s abilities.
It was also nice to see the shares in Domino Printing rebound somewhat after the poor trading statement the previous month. The only notably weak performer was Centaur Media, where we suspect investors remain nervous over their large last quarter advertising bookings. On the dealing front, the main transactions were the sale of our remaining holding of Hargreaves Services where despite great profits growth, we felt the working capital strains of future growth would be telling on cashflows. We also sold our Hardy Underwriting holding following the agreed cash bid from UGC; and trimmed our large Cranswick holding. Apart from the new holding in Progressive Digital Media mentioned above, we added to Telecom Plus into relative weakness and to ITE: it looked as though the new competitor to their important Mosbuild exhibition had not affected them.
Co-Fund Manager
Mark Niznik
Co-Manager of the Artemis UK Smaller Companies Fund Fund since 22 October 2007
Awards
UK Smaller Companies PDFKey Facts
| IMA Sector | UK Smaller Companies |
|---|---|
| Sedol Number | 0258359 |
| Fund Size (offer basis) | £319.2m |
| Historic yield | 0.6% |
| Unit offer price | 800.15p |
| Unit bid price | 743.57p |
| Valuation (UK business days) | 12:00 |
| Minimum lump sum investment | £1,000 |
|---|---|
| Minimum monthly investment | £50 |
| Launch | 3 April 1998 |
| Launch price | 100p |
| Preliminary charge | 5.00% |
| Annual Management Fee | 1.50% |
| Unit type | Accumulation |
| Accumulation date | 28 February |
| Total Expense Ratio | 1.61% |
Data as at 30 April 2012.
Performance
| Since Launch* | 5 Years | 3 Years | 1 Year | 6 Months | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Smaller Companies Fund (TR)† | 680.7 | -8.7 | 78.9 | 6.0 | 8.1 |
| Numis Smaller Companies (-InvTrust) TR | 192.2 | 10.8 | 75.6 | 0.1 | 13.0 |
| Sector Average | 152.7 | 4.4 | 78.0 | -0.8 | 10.4 |
| Position in Sector | 2 | 41 | 31 | 8 | 44 |
| Funds in Sector | 29 | 48 | 55 | 57 | 57 |
| Quartile | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Please remember that past performance is not a guide to the future.
* Data from 3 April 1998. Source: Lipper Limited, bid to bid in sterling with net income reinvested to 30 April 2012. All figures show total returns. †Percentage Growth. Sector is IMA UK Smaller Companies.
Percentage Growth
Artemis UK Smaller Companies Fund Fund 12 Months to 31 December 2009
| 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.8 | 26.9 | 49.7 | -48.2 | -11.0 |
Source: Lipper Limited, bid to bid in sterling with net income reinvested. All figures show total returns.
Value of £1,000 invested at Launch to 30 April 2012.
Data from 3 April 1998. Source Lipper Limited, bid to bid in sterling with net income reinvested to 30 April 2012.
Asset Allocation*
*Without cash. Source: Internal
Top Ten Holdings*
| GlobeOp Financial Services | 3.9% |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Exploration | 3.7% |
| Brooks MacDonald | 3.3% |
| REA Holdings | 3.1% |
| Mears Group | 3.0% |
| Vostok Energy | 2.9% |
| H&T Group | 2.5% |
| Domino Printing Sciences | 2.4% |
| Hilton Food Group | 2.2% |
| Tarsus Group | 2.2% |
* Without cash.
Source: Internal.
Market Sector Split*
| Industrial Goods & Services | 23.4% |
|---|---|
| Financial Services | 12.0% |
| Media | 11.4% |
| Technology | 9.9% |
| Oil & Gas | 9.1% |
| Food & Beverage | 9.0% |
| Retail | 5.0% |
| Healthcare | 4.7% |
| Real Estate | 4.7% |
| Other | 10.8% |
* Without cash.
Source: Internal.
Risk Warning
Issued by Artemis Fund Managers Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (www.fsa.gov.uk), 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS and is a member of the IMA. Artemis Fund Managers Ltd is a member of the Artemis Marketing Group. We only market our own unit trusts. The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise as result of market and currency fluctuations and you may not get back the amount originally invested. Investment in the securities of smaller and/or medium sized companies can involve greater risk than is customarily associated with investment in larger, more established companies. The market for securities in smaller companies is often less liquid than that for securities in larger companies, meaning above average price movements both positive and negative can be expected.
All data is sourced internally unless otherwise stated.
The historic yield reflects distributions declared over the past twelve months as a percentage of the mid-market unit price, as at the date shown. It does not include any preliminary charge and investors may be subject to tax on their distributions.
