The hits (and misses) after springcleaning my investment portfolio...

ALMOST 15 months ago, I began overhauling my investments in search of better returns and a more coherent strategy.

I’ve done this against a background of swinging stock markets. The FTSE All Share, for example, hit a peak of 4324 in May last year and a low of 3596 in late December — a near 17 pc fall from peak to trough. It is now up around 10 pc from that trough, but remains lower than a year ago.

I have weeded out 24 investments and bought some replacements.

My aim was to achieve a better balance that could meet my aims as I meander into my more mature years.

I now hold 26 funds and shares across my Isa and Sipp. Some may argue this is too many — but that’s my business.

The key question is whether I’ve made good decisions. So, let’s start off with one I seem to have got wrong.

I sold First State Global Listed Infrastructure — a specialist fund that does what it says on the tin — in June last year for £2.62 per share. Since then, it has climbed around 11 pc.

Another regret is Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities, which has gone up by 7 pc from the £1.59 per share I sold for at the end of November. I had held this for many years, but long-time manager Nigel Thomas’s retirement prompted my decision.

Yet it has outperformed an Investment Association index of similar funds by around 50 pc over the past six months — so perhaps I should have given new manager Chris St John a chance.

To complete a trio of mishaps, Quilter Global Best Ideas, which I pondered for some time before selling, is up 4 pc since I dumped it 15 months ago.

Elsewhere, I have no regrets. LF Woodford Equity Income has fallen 10 pc since I sold one tranche in February last year and 13 pc since I sold the remainder in June.

Neil Woodford has done some restructuring to remove unlisted companies, which should reduce risk and bring it more in line with its original mandate. But, for me, it’s too late: I’ve favoured other income funds.

Of the other funds and shares that I sold last February, Jupiter Absolute Return, Jupiter New Europe, Templeton Emerging Markets and Invesco High Income have all fallen in value; Threadneedle UK Equity Alpha, Man GLG Balanced and Troy Trojan have hardly moved.

Through the year, I also dumped Artemis Strategic Assets, Artemis Strategic Bond, Fidelity Open World, Invesco Perpetual Monthly Income, Schroder UK Dynamic Absolute Return and LF Odey Opus — none of which have lit up the sky.

But this trading would be worthless if I hadn’t secured what I feel to be better long-term prospects. I’ve used a broad mix of global, European and UK funds.

Globally, I’ve strengthened my holding in Scottish Mortgage, an investment trust holding strong business such as Amazon, Alibaba and Netflix. Overall, the value of my holding is up by 9 pc.

I bought Lindsell Train Global Equity at prices from £2.02 per unit in February to £2.24 in June — and I’m showing a profit of around 23 pc.

I also added to my holding in Fundsmith Equity at £3.64 last March. The price is now £4.36 and, including previous investments, the fund is showing me a return of 79 pc.

Another global fund is LF Blue Whale Growth — a fund backed by Hargreaves Lansdown founder Peter Hargreaves that holds the likes of PayPal, Facebook, Alphabet (the owner of Google) and Adidas. I bought at the end of August and am showing a profit of 6.4 pc.

But I have also had an eye on charges and decided to increase my holding in two low- cost Vanguard funds, Global Equity and its FTSE UK All Share Index tracker. Both are showing healthy profits.

If it sounds as though my whole focus has been global growth, then I should emphasise that I have retained Artemis Income, Newton Global Income and Marlborough Multi Cap Income, as well as adding LF Miton UK Multi Cap Income.

All knock Woodford into a cocked hat over the periods of one, three and five years.

I added to my holding of Lloyds shares (perhaps not so wise) and bought Standard Life UK Smaller Companies at 92p last March, seeing it rise to £1.01.

I’ve also bought into a HSBC S& P 500 tracker for cheap, simple exposure to the U.S., which is up around 5 pc in less than six months — even after the past week’s setbacks.

One disappointment has been HSBC’s FTSE 250 tracker, a fund to which I’ve added intermittently over many years — and which has performed well when mediumsized UK stocks are in favour.

I bought more in February 2018, at £18.70 per share, but it’s gone nowhere. It is probably suffering more than any other holding through Brexit uncertainty.

It’s a cheap way to hold these stocks, but its performance is hardly making me cheerful — let’s see if the next six months put a smile on my face.