Jupiter Merlin Growth Portfolio Class I - Income (GBP)

This fund boasts an excellent long-term performance record, outperforming the MSCI AC World TR index by some margin. Our analysis suggests style, including sector and geographical allocation, has largely driven returns. We would expect this given the management team focus their attention on asset allocation and select fund managers based on their styles. They will often take relatively aggressive exposures, more recently investing heavily in areas such as Japan, gold and higher risk emerging markets which has had mixed success.

The management team's role is to understand individual fund managers in the same way that other fund managers understand equities or bonds. The individual who runs a fund is the most important factor in how it is likely to perform. The aim is to pick managers who have the ability to outperform through a market cycle. Key factors include fund manager tenure, fund management style, likelihood of future success and performance achieved versus the risks taken (in that order). Expertise is then needed to blend the best funds from across a range of asset classes and geographical regions - to try to buy the right quantities of the right managers at the right time.

The managers take positions based on their 'big picture' view of which markets are likely to perform well. They are happy to hold a significant cash weighting temporarily if they believe this will benefit the fund. Generally, foreign investments are left open to currency risk unless the managers have a strong conviction the currency will move against them. The fund sits within the IMA Flexible sector and can therefore hold a range of different investments. However realistically this fund will typically be predominantly invested in shares.