7 Feb 2018 09:32
7 February 2018
LEI: 2138005C7REHURGWHW31
River and Mercantile Group PLC ("the Company")
The Company announces that portfolio manager Philip Rodrigs has today left its subsidiary, River and Mercantile Asset Management LLP (RAMAM), following an investigation into a professional conduct issue.
Philip Rodrigs left on Wednesday 7 February 2018. He was previously lead manager of the River and Mercantile ('R&M') UK Equity Smaller Companies Fund, the R&M UK Dynamic Equity Fund, and the R&M UK Micro Cap Investment Company Limited. In each case the principal portfolio management responsibility has passed to an alternate manager within RAMAM's successful 'PVT' team in accordance with its well established succession plans.
The conduct issue was unrelated to his portfolio manager responsibilities and has not impacted the pricing or NAV of any RAMAM fund and no client or investor has been negatively affected in connection with this matter.
James Barham, Chief Executive Officer at RAMAM, said:
"It is disappointing to have to take this course of action but we have acted swiftly to ensure that the portfolios continue to be managed in line with our PVT investment philosophy and process. This will ensure that we continue to deliver market leading investment returns for our clients."
The R&M UK Equity Smaller Companies fund will now be managed by Dan Hanbury, who previously ran this fund prior to Philip Rodrigs' appointment in September 2014; the multi-cap R&M UK Dynamic Equity Fund will be managed by William Lough, in addition to his continuing responsibilities as alternate to Hugh Sergeant on RAMAM's High Alpha and Recovery strategies; and management of the R&M UK Micro Cap Investment Company Limited will pass to the alternate manager on this portfolio, George Ensor.
Hugh Sergeant, RAMAM's Chief Investment Officer for Equities, said:
"River and Mercantile Asset Management has consistently generated excellent returns for its clients over the past 11 years and this is in large part due to the strength and effectiveness of the philosophy and process we created when we set up the business in 2006. With this robust process in place, alongside the depth and breadth of experience we possess within the PVT team, we're confident that this change in the team's structure can be comfortably absorbed with no adverse impact to the funds' management."
The PVT philosophy, named from the three key criteria the team apply in seeking out investment opportunities - Potential, Valuation and Timing - involves a proprietary quantitative tool that analyses a global universe of stocks and filters out only the most promising opportunities for further fundamental analysis by the team.
The information communicated in this RNS is inside information.
For further information please contact:
River and Mercantile Group PLC +44 (0)20 3327 5100
James Barham, CEO RAMAM
Chris Rutt, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Investor Relations