04 Jun 2025
RSMR fund ratings are more than just a badge of quality—they represent trust, due diligence, and a reputation built on rigorous research and expert analysis. Every month we study the universe of funds in the investment marketplace to assess whether they meet our exacting standards and should be given the RSMR seal of approval.
Here are the new rated funds from our May review:
RSMR rates the Artemis SmartGARP UK Equity Fund for its well-defined, systematic investment process and long-term track record of outperformance. At the core of the fund is the proprietary SmartGARP quantitative model, which screens UK-listed companies to identify those trading below what their growth prospects suggest they are worth. This process integrates both value and growth factors, supported by macroeconomic data and overlayed with the judgment of experienced fund managers to ensure sensible diversification and quality control.
The SmartGARP model processes a vast universe of companies and filters them through a consistent set of criteria including valuation, forecast upgrades, sentiment, and momentum. This results in a high-conviction portfolio typically holding 60–90 stocks, with an emphasis on mid-cap names not always found in peer funds. The fund also has the flexibility to invest up to 20% in overseas companies where the investment case is compelling, and maintains a strong value bias, which provides differentiation within the UK Equity sector.
RSMR particularly values the adaptive nature of the process. The managers have enhanced the strategy over time, including a dynamic approach to the value factor and the introduction of more robust quality metrics, reflecting a pragmatic response to changing market conditions. This evolution, combined with the model’s inherent contrarian tilt, supports its use across market cycles. The fund can be considered as a strong core holding, particularly effective when paired with large-cap or passive strategies. Its mid-cap bias and distinctive process offer genuine diversification within a UK equity allocation.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Artemis SmartGARP UK Equity Fund.
RSMR rates the Canada Life Diversified Monthly Income Fund because it offers a clear, outcome-focused solution for investors seeking stable monthly income and long-term capital growth. With a targeted annual income yield of 4%, the fund aims to increase distributions in line with inflation, providing a reliable and inflation-aware income stream over the long term.
The fund’s multi-asset strategy is built around a well-diversified portfolio that spans global equities, investment grade and high yield bonds, listed infrastructure, and property. This broad asset allocation is designed to balance income generation and capital growth while reducing reliance on any single market or sector. The fund uses a dynamic asset allocation process, guided by income forecasting and valuation assessments, which allows the managers to respond flexibly to changing market conditions and maintain a consistent income profile.
Oriented around a disciplined, risk-aware investment process, the fund benefits from the combined expertise of Canada Life Asset Management’s equity, fixed income, and macroeconomic specialists. This collaborative approach ensures that security selection and asset allocation decisions are grounded in deep fundamental research and strategic oversight.
The Canada Life Diversified Monthly Income Fund is cost-effective, actively managed solution well suited as a core holding for income-focused investors. Its emphasis on consistency, quality, and diversification makes it an attractive choice for those looking to generate reliable income without overcomplicating their investment strategy.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Canlife Diversified Monthly Income Fund.
The Janus Henderson Global Financials fund invests in traditional financial companies (i.e. banks and insurers) as well as companies that are engaged in real estate, payments, financial services related data and software and other types of financial services. The target universe of the fund is not restricted to third-party classifications of financials (e.g. GICS) or by the benchmark index. Due to this, the fund can include a notable allocation to companies not within the index.
The fund invests in a combination of analyst stock ideas and selections. The team invest significantly in companies that are identified as having strong competitive positions, capable management teams and resilient business models. These companies are expected to perform not only in conducive market environments, but also in markets that are less so. In essence, the team are seeking great businesses with strong competitive advantages in order to build a balanced portfolio built on the research insights of the team and leveraging the longer time horizon over which they invest.
The Global Financials team spend the majority of their time researching and analysing financial services allowing them to identify ideas and establish a differentiated insight. The team is structured with members in Singapore, London and the US.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Janus Henderson Global Financials Fund.
The fund began its life at Hiscox with the launch of the Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund in October 1998. In essence, the Polar Capital Global Insurance fund is designed as a pool of underwriting capital with quality companies sought where underwriting is key. This leads to a bias towards small/midcap companies which are more focused on underwriting, compared to the larger insurance names. The philosophy of the fund (unchanged since launch) is to seek to own 30 to 35 high quality companies with a further 30 to 35 companies identified for possible inclusion (i.e. a ‘subs bench’) if an existing position is lost to M&A or no longer fits the requirements of the fund.
Like some other strategies at Polar Capital, the fund has a performance fee of 10% attached to it, based on outperformance of the benchmark. This is cited by Polar Capital as aligning the interests of the fund managers with investors.
To conclude, this is a unique proposition within the RSMR researchable universe that provides access to the market which requires specialist knowledge and expertise. The current management team are experienced in the insurance sector and ‘speak the language’ of the company management teams they meet.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Polar Capital Global Insurance Fund.
Technology stocks have become an ever-increasing proportion of equity market indices in recent years, and we have added the Janus Henderson Global Technology Leaders fund to our rated list to provide investors with access to a team of specialist investors in this area. The team have a strong long-term track record and employ a consistent and well thought out investment process, driving returns from the bottom-up through rigorous proprietary fundamental analysis. They are looking for companies with underappreciated earnings growth potential, who are leaders in their respective sub-sector and whose stock is trading at reasonable prices.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Janus Henderson Global Technology Leaders Fund.
Launched in September 2008, Pictet Timber is a benchmark unconstrained thematic fund that invests in companies that have sufficient exposure to the timber value chain. This includes areas such as forest owners, wood products and home builders, containerboard, and packaging, as well as paper-based products.
The managers identify an initial universe of listed companies active in the timber value chain. Only companies with sufficient exposure to the timber value chain are eligible for investment. Pictet include companies in the investable universe only if at least 20% of the enterprise value (or sales, EBIT, EBITDA, or similar measures) is derived from timber-related activities. The minimum threshold for an individual company is 20%, but the weighted average purity of the portfolio is generally above 70%.
The investment process is the same as all thematic equity propositions at Pictet with the main difference between the strategies being the theme – some strategies are broader while the Timber fund is more specialised. Due to the heritage of Pictet within thematic equities, and the bespoke nature of this theme in isolation, this is an interesting proposition that focuses on solely one theme within the thematic suite at Pictet.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Pictet Timber Fund.
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The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amounts originally invested.