London 2 June 2008 – Fidelity International today announces the appointment of two long-serving research analysts as the managers of the Fidelity Income Plus Fund and the Fidelity Growth + Income Fund.
From July 1 2008 Michael Clark will assume responsibility for the £653 million FIF Income Plus Fund and Matt Siddle will take on the £226 million FIF Growth + Income Fund*. Michael brings 20 years of investment research experience to the portfolio assignment; Matt, a former Fidelity director of research, has been with the company for eight years.
The appointments follow a decision by John Stavis, the current manager of the two funds, to take a six-month sabbatical after 13 years in investment management at Fidelity. John is expected to return to a new role with the Fidelity investment team in 2009. Over the next month, he will work closely with the new managers to ensure smooth transitions.
Nicky Richards, Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity International, says that the appointments of Michael and Matt complete the groundwork for the reinvigoration of Fidelity’s UK equity portfolio management team.
In December 2007, Tom Ewing took control of Fidelity UK Growth and Aruna Karunathilake assumed responsibility for Fidelity UK Aggressive. In January Sanjeev Shah became the manager of the Fidelity Special Situations Fund after a lengthy handover by the previous manager, Anthony Bolton.
Nicky Richards comments: “It’s early days yet but there are encouraging signs that our investment in the UK equity team over the past 18 months is beginning to pay off. Tom, Aruna and Sanjeev all outperformed the market by a significant margin during the first quarter of this year.
“John’s decision to take a well-earned sabbatical after 13 straight years in investment management creates the opportunity for Fidelity to assign UK retail portfolios to two more of our highly experienced research analysts in the UK equity team. The investment styles of Michael and Matt are ideally suited to their new portfolio assignments.”
The new-look line-up for Fidelity’s UK retail equity team is as follows:
| Special Situations |
Sanjeev Shah |
| UK Aggressive |
Aruna Karunathilake |
| UK Growth |
Tom Ewing |
| MoneyBuilder Growth |
Sam Morse |
| Income Plus |
Michael Clark |
| Growth + Income |
Matt Siddle |
About Michael Clark
Michael Clark has 20 years experience of investment research. Prior to joining Fidelity five years ago, he was an equity analyst at JP Morgan, Enskilda and Morgan Grenfell. He has covered numerous sectors from a Pan-European perspective, including construction, oil services and house-builders.
Since September 2007, Michael has run a pilot UK Equity Income Fund for Fidelity. He favours a slightly more concentrated portfolio than John Stavis, with between 40 and 60 holdings. Among Michael’s buy criteria for companies include evidence of strong cash flow, rising dividend yields, attractive valuations and healthy balance sheets.
About Matt Siddle
A Cambridge economics graduate, Matt Siddle joined Fidelity International in 1999 as an equity analyst and has since covered many of the major financial and industrial sectors. Rated as one of Fidelity’s most successful equity analysts, Matt became Director of Research in 2005.
Since April 2007, Matt has run a pilot UK equity fund for Fidelity and in April this year he was appointed manager of the Fidelity Funds United Kingdom Fund, a £95 million Luxembourg Sicav*. He will continue to run this fund alongside the Growth + Income Fund. Matt also takes responsibility for the equity portion of the FIF MoneyBuilder Balanced Fund. The fixed income portion will continue to be run by Ian Spreadbury. Matt looks for high quality companies whose stock is cheap relative to its peers and the market. Strong returns on capital and long-term growth potential are among the criteria considered by Matt.
FIL Limited (“FIL”) and its subsidiary companies serve the major markets of the world by providing investment products and services to individuals and institutional investors outside the US. FIL Limited manages a total of £130.4 billion of assets**.
