What changes have been made to the Favourite funds list?

We keep our Favourite funds list under constant review to ensure we have the highest conviction in the funds we’ve selected. Following a recent review, we’ve decided to remove the Premier Miton Tellworth UK Smaller Companies fund.

We continue to hold Paul Marriage, the fund’s lead manager, in high regard and believe his investment approach remains robust. This is reflected in the fund’s performance over the past five years, where it ranks in the first quartile among UK Smaller Companies peers. However, the fund has experienced a significant decline in Assets under Management (AUM), falling from approximately £510m at its peak in 2021 to c.£70m today. Fund shrinkage such as this reduces a fund’s profitability, which in extremes, can result in a fund being closed in its entirety.

Though this trend is consistent with broader outflows from the UK Smaller Companies sector, the reduced scale is already beginning to impact the fund. Notably, co-manager James Gerlis departed in June 2025 and hasn’t been replaced, highlighting the operational challenges associated with maintaining a fund with a low AUM.

With the sector continuing to face outflows, we believe it will be challenging for the fund to reverse this trend. As a result, we consider it prudent to remove the fund from our Favourite funds list.