ii Super 60 review: full-year 2020
Find out how interactive investor’s list of rated funds performed over the past 12 months.
12th January 2021 17:43
by Teodor Dilov from interactive investor
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Find out how interactive investor’s list of rated funds performed over the past 12 months.
ii Super 60 fund selections
Financial markets have experienced turbulence and success in abundance over the years, but 2020 was remarkable indeed. We witnessed ups and downs for almost all investment styles across multiple asset classes, and many investors saw attractive opportunities to begin building positions.
Strongly benefiting from its technology and innovation portfolio themes, as well as quality exposure to emerging markets, Scottish Mortgage (LSE:SMT) was the absolute champion among the Super 60’s rated strategies, delivering 110% total return for the 12 months to 31 December.
China managed to tackle the virus better than its Western peers, limiting the impact on supply chains, which also helped for a quicker and ongoing recovery with as little disruption as possible. It’s one of the reasons why Fidelity China Special Situations (LSE:FCSS) performed extremely well in 2020, returning 69%.
Japanese equities, and especially innovative companies with ambition to be disruptors in their areas of operation, demonstrated strong performance over the year. Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon (LSE:BGS) returned 49%, strongly supported by its relatively large position in technology, while Legg Mason IF Japan Equity delivered a 41% total return, strongly benefiting from its overweight position in healthcare. The top five best performers is completed by TR European Growth (LSE:TRG), which returned 36% for the period, mainly on the back of a fantastic Q4 performance (+37%) and improved sentiment towards undervalued assets.
The global pandemic led to the acceleration of technology, but it also left capital-intensive industries, including property, as its biggest casualties. BMO Commercial Property (LSE:BCPT) lost 28% over one year, but it should be highlighted that due to its closed-ended structure, investors in the trust had uninterrupted access to their money, while all major property funds were gated during the year due to excessive redemption requests.
Despite the cyclical rally in the final quarter of 2020, triggered by the positive news of a vaccine discovery, value strategies remained among the hardest hit. North American Income Trust (LSE:NAIT) (-16% for the period) alongside two of its UK peers – Royal London UK Equity Income (-15% and Man GLG Income Professional (-14%) were among those that struggled the most, yet continued to offer very attractive dividend yields. Utilico Emerging Markets (LSE:UEM) also failed to impress shareholders, returning -14%, suffering mainly from local currency moves rather than poor selection of portfolio holdings.
Top five ii Super 60 funds in 2020
Performance | ||||
Investment | Q4 (%) | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years |
22.6 | 110.4 | 174.7 | 351.7 | |
14.9 | 68.5 | 69.9 | 185.7 | |
12.1 | 48.5 | 50.0 | 187.3 | |
6.7 | 40.5 | 16.2 | 22.5 | |
37.1 | 36.4 | 14.4 | 115.9 | |
Source: Morningstar. Total returns in sterling
Bottom five ii Super 60 funds in 2020
Performance | ||||
Investment | Q4 (%) | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years |
25.3 | -28.3 | -33.0 | -26.0 | |
11.5 | -16.1 | 1.5 | 73.6 | |
13.5 | -14.8 | -1.5 | 3.6 | |
13.0 | -14.4 | -3.1 | 39.3 | |
19.2 | -13.7 | -0.9 | 5.5 | |
Source: Morningstar. Total returns in sterling
Most-traded funds on the ii platform in 2020
Most bought |
Most sold |
Changes to the ii Super 60 list (under review/developments)
interactive investor’s latest review of its rated funds list has resulted in six new additions and two removals.
For more comment on the Super 60 rated funds reshuffle click here
As well as the annual review, there have been a number of changes to the interactive investor Super 60 list of investments recently. For more information, please click here:
- Inclusion of Morgan Stanley Global Brands Equity Income Fund
- Inclusion of Mobius Investment Trust (LSE:MMIT)
- Removal of Artemis Global Income Fund
- Removal of BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust (LSE:BRFI)
- Removal of Templeton Emerging Markets Smaller Companies Fund
- Reclassification of Murray International (LSE:MYI) Trust
- Inclusion of the Vanguard LifeStrategy range:
- JPMorgan European Income Trust (LSE:JETI) put under formal review due to an extended period of unsatisfactory performance.
- BMO Commercial Property (LSE:BCPT) Investment Trust was put under formal review on 22 July 2020. We have since decided to maintain our rating and remove the trust from under formal review.
- Schroder Income Fund removed from our Super 60 rated list due to an extended period of unsatisfactory performance.
- Utilico Emerging Markets (LSE:UEM) Investment Trust was put under formal review on 5 August 2020 due to performance concerns. We have since decided to maintain our rating and remove the trust from under formal review.
Super 60 videos
- 4 reasons to own Lloyds and other bank shares
- Expect great things from these value stocks
- Fidelity China Special Situations: a massive 2020 for this trust
- Fidelity China Special Situations: two undervalued tech stars
- Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund: finding the best bonds
- Rathbone Ethical Bond Fund: a bond’s worst enemy
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.