Majedie UK Equity Fund

"Not putting all your eggs in one basket" is a well-known phrase relevant to many situations. For investors, it means not just investing in one company, fund or theme, but in a number of them. This is what’s known as a diversified approach. When some are doing well, others may be doing less well. But over time, the ups and downs even out and the value of your investments should be more than the amount you first invested.

The Majedie approach

Like other fund managers, the Majedie funds own shares in companies doing lots of different things. One may be a mobile phone company; another makes the tonic to go with your favourite gin. However, the Majedie UK Equity Fund approach to investing in shares goes one step further.

Four heads – better than one?

This fund is run by four different but experienced fund managers, each of whom work for Majedie. Importantly, each individual manager looks for slightly different things when they are researching company shares to buy and sell.

For instance, one manager only looks at companies that are small in size. Another will buy larger companies, but only those where the company is very cheaply priced. His next colleague on the other hand is less worried about the price of the company’s shares, but more focused on how fast and for how long a business is able to grow its earnings and its income. The final manager in the quartet prefers to takes the middle ground. He’s happy to pay fair prices for good companies if he thinks they will earn higher profits in the future. He will also own unloved businesses that are both cheap enough and have a strong position in their industry – but only if he thinks the company will improve in time.

In defence of fence-sitting…

This approach accepts that no one person, or view, is right all the time. Investment styles will be in and out of favour with investors, sometimes for many years. The Majedie fund tries to ensure that investors own a wide range of companies and styles, and over time, benefit from this approach.

The Majedie UK Equity Fund could be a fund worth considering if you are thinking of taking a diversified approach to investing in UK shares. There are also seven more funds on the Barclays Funds List which focus on the UK, including the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund and the Artemis Income Fund. Find out more information on these funds.

To diversify your investment, you may like to consider our own Barclays Ready-Made Investments (RMI). The RMI are just one example of a range of diversified funds which allow you to select the level of risk you are most comfortable with. These multi-asset funds invest in passive funds across a range of asset classes and regions, offering a globally diversified one-stop solution for investors. Ready-Made Investments are not the only funds that we offer and they won’t be appropriate for everyone.

These are our current opinions but the future, as ever, is uncertain and outcomes may differ. Past performance of the fund and its manager are not a reliable indicator of their future performance.

We don’t offer personal investment advice so if you’re unsure you should seek that independently. Funds are designed for the long term so you should only consider them if you can stay invested for at least five years.

Read the Assessment of Value report [PDF, 683KB] for funds run by Barclays.