Standard aims for small firms

26 January 2012 | By Joanne Ellul

Standard Life Investments has launched a global smaller companies fund for head of smaller companies Harry Nimmo.

The fund focuses on capital growth and is co-managed by smaller companies investment director Alan Rowsell. The portfolio will comprise 40 to 80 holdings and is benchmarked against the MSCI All Country World Small Cap index.

Fifty per cent is invested in the US, 25 per cent in the UK and Europe and 25 per cent in the rest of the world.

Nimmo says: “In the short term, the shadow of the euro hangs over all asset classes and markets but the recent period of weakness is beginning to turn up high quality, growth businesses at really quite modest valuations.”

Minimum investment is £500, initial charge is 4 per cent and annual charge is 1.7 per cent.

Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Meera Patel says: “Small caps have had a tough time and valuations have gone down but fundamentals have not changed. They are cheaper and so the growth prospects are bigger.”

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