Not even the most gifted of stockpickers could have escaped unharmed in last October’s market sell-off. In the case of the Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust, the tumult caused by sudden fears of a wave of American rate rises meant that it suffered its worst first six-month period since the financial crisis a decade earlier. Over the half-year to December, the net value of the trust’s assets slid by 19.5 per cent.
Yet it’s testament to the resilience of its portfolio that over the following six months it turned in its best second half since Harry Nimmo, 62, the fund manager, took charge in 2003, returning 22.9 per cent and in the end outperforming its benchmark over the full year by some margin.
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