Short positions... best steer clear of best-buy lists

⬛ Treat investment platforms’ best-buy lists with caution, says David Brenchley in The Times. The newspaper crunched the numbers with investment group SCM Direct, assessing the performance of the lists at Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity International, Interactive Investor and Bestinvest since January 2019. Only 8.8% of the recommended funds finished in the top 10% of their sector, and 22.7% were in the bottom quintile. Just over half of the funds were ranked in the bottom 50% of their category. The lists also had a high churn rate, which appears inconsistent with platforms’ advice that investors should hold funds for the long term (at least five years). Moreover, the process whereby platforms choose best-buy funds can be opaque and differs from provider to provider. SCM Direct’s Alan Miller notes that the latest data matches other studies with “scant evidence of above-average fund selection... it is amazing that the regulator continues to allow these lists”.

⬛ “Chumocracy is a scourge of the listed business world,” says Oliver Shah in The Sunday Times. The latest example is Jupiter Fund Management. The shares have dwindled from more than 600p in 2017 to 129p today, a trend the “overly cosy” board has been unable to arrest. Last June Andrew Formica, who ran Janus Henderson until 2018, resigned as CEO. He had been hired by an independent director who also used to run Henderson. Formica was replaced by Matthew Beesley, a former head of global equities at, “err, Henderson”. A recent opportunity to bring in a fresh perspective was squandered when chair Nichola Pease left last week. Insider David Cruickshank got the position instead. It is past time for a “proper shake-up”.