Saracen Fund Managers has underlined its growth plans by appointing industry veteran Jamie Matheson as its first external chairman.
Saracen Fund Managers has underlined its growth plans by appointing industry veteran Jamie Matheson as its first external chairman.
Mr Matheson, the Glasgow stockbroker who retired last year after a 40-year career culminating in eight years as executive chairman of Brewin Dolphin, will take over from Saracen founder Jim Fisher.
Mr Fisher, who owns 38 per cent of the company and remains a director, said: ??I am delighted to hand over the chairmanship to Jamie for the next stage of Saracen??s development.??
Mr Matheson said: ??The industry has changed dramatically over the past few years and with this brings opportunities. Saracen has the team and strategies in place to take advantage of these.??
Saracen??s revenues jumped from £380,000 to £548,000 last year as the business turned a £15,500 profit following two years of losses totalling £190,000.
Graham Campbell, chief executive, who owns 34 per cent of the company, said: ??Jamie has experience of building a brand and building a business. A few other people will be joining over the next few months on the research and sales side of things.??
Founded in 1999, the firm??s original Saracen Growth fund investing in UK equities has been outpaced by its second fund, Saracen Global Income & Growth, launched in June 2011 but now accounting for around £45million of Saracen??s £75m of assets. It was the second best performer in the global equity income sector in 2013, according to Lipper figures published by Moneyfacts.This year performance has been below the sector average, but the three-year record ranks the fund sixth in the sector.
Mr Campbell said: ??This year has been tough, the fund is not benchmarked but we often report against the world index and half of that is the US, but we have been reducing holdings in the US this year.?? He said Coca Cola, Colgate and Kraft had been among the disposals. Saracen boasts portfolio turnover of under 20 per cent since inception.
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