Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive of the retail fund manager Jupiter, sees another bumpy year ahead for investors.
“The central case is that there is still weak economic growth in the West but more sinuous growth in the East as we go through the Year of the Snake,” he said. “We are definitely seeing more confidence in the corporate sector as shown by an increase in mergers and takeovers. Even the banking sector appears to be healing.”
In that kind of environment Bonham Carter believes more people will turn to mutual equity funds as returns on conventional savings remain low. He said: “People realise that now is the time to be looking for stock pickers and over the last three years 65% of our funds are in the upper quartile.”
Jupiter had a steady 2012 with a net inflow of £1 billion of funds taking its total assets under management to £26.3 billion. Pre-tax profits rose from £70.3 million to £73.6 million. Shareholders, which include staff who own a quarter of the business, benefit from a 13% dividend hike to 8.8p a share.
