Wealth managers who really earned their fees (and how they did it)

You hand over fees and expect performance in return, but which wealth managers kept up their side of the bargain? - AP

Who to trust with your money in the world of wealth management can be tricky, with returns and charges varying wildly.

But annual awards run by specialist publisher Citywire are on hand to help, revealing the wealth managers who top the charts for performance, after fees.

For the boldest investors, the most successful firm in the “aggressive” category, PortfolioMetrix, returned 45pc in three years.

Nic Spicer, UK head of research, said a good hand overall helped drive performance, but the best investment has been Alexander Darwall’s fund at Jupiter Asset Management.

He said: “It has done phenomenally well in capturing European growth. He’s been the shining light but there have been a number of them.”

Mr Darwall’s £5.4bn Jupiter European fund invests in between 30 to 45 companies that he and his team believe can grow profits over the long term, through entrepreneurial smarts rather than tougher-to-control external factors.

You can get in on the act for as little as £100 via some fund shops, at an ongoing charge of around 1pc.

At the other end of the spectrum, the winner in the “cautious” category was LGT Vestra, which returned 18.8pc in three years through investing in funds.

Tony Allan, partner and head of business development at the firm, attributed the success to taking bold positions and sticking with them, what’s known as a “high conviction” investment strategy.

He said: “We haven’t tried to over complicate portfolios, we’ve seen consistent returns and managed volatility very well.”

Specifically, the performance of their American investments in large companies and tech industries have paid off,  Phoebe Stone, portfolio manager, said: “We’re still investing in tech-orientated funds and trying to avoid the blow-ups seen over the summer in isolated emerging markets."

Ms Stone added recently the firm has switched from a passive US tracker into an active manager.

"We’re seeing the potential end of the market cycle, when it is very much worth paying for an active manager. We’ve gone into the Morgan Stanley US Advantage fund. You really want an active manager to select stocks where there is still value to be had.”

In the “balanced” category, technology was also named as a major driver of the performance of the winner, James Hambro, but this time quick switches rather than loyalty to the investment were favoured. The firm returned 24.7pc in three years.

James Horniman, partner and portfolio manager at the wealth firm, said: “One key to our performance is how quickly we can move around, especially when buying direct equities, making sure if things change you are quite quick to get out.

He said the firm is "a little bit cautious, we are not all guns blazing", and is holding quite a lot of cash.

"We are looking for more defensive names, but still sectors that are winners like technology which is changing the world.”

In the “growth” category, PortfolioMetrix came top again, with a three-year return of 38.4pc. The firm has done well to feature twice.

It was only launched back in 2010 in South Africa and not rolled out into the UK until 2012. It has grown to manage £1.4 billion in assets, using its own risk profiling tool which measures different facets of a client’s financial personality.

All of the performance figures are after fees and were verified by research firm Asset Risk Consultants to ensure that the numbers represented the experience of clients.

laura.miller@telegraph.co.uk