03 Sept 2026
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 August review:
The investment objective is to seek to achieve a total return greater than the Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies Index (Excluding Investment Companies) over the long term, with the focus on rolling five year periods.
Aberforth Partners manage a single strategy, are an established (founded in 1990) investment boutique based in Edinburgh and are solely focused on value investing within the smaller companies’ area of the UK market. There is an experienced and well-resourced investment team, whose interests are aligned with those of their clients via the partnership structure and through meaningful personal holdings in the funds that they manage. The team are willing to take meaningful positions in companies where they have strong conviction and so can exert influence on company management through formal shareholder engagement.
RSMR rates the fund because of the extensive portfolio management expertise, the well resourced stable team and the application of a disciplined and effective investment process. Given the investment approach, the fund’s performance may lag in strong earnings growth momentum markets, where valuation is less important to market participants and share prices are driven by variables other than stock specific fundamentals. As with all truly active funds there are likely to be times when performance materially differs from UK small cap indices and peers.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Aberforth UK Smaller Companies fund
The Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust was launched on 10 December 1990 and is one of the largest trusts within the UK Smaller Companies sector. The Trust’s objective is to achieve a net asset value total return greater than that of the Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies Index (Excluding Investment Companies) over the long term.
Aberforth Partners manage a single strategy, are an established (founded in 1990) investment boutique based in Edinburgh and are solely focused on value investing within the smaller companies’ area of the UK market. There is an experienced and well-resourced investment team, whose interests are aligned with those of their clients via the partnership structure and through meaningful personal holdings in the funds that they manage. The team are willing to take meaningful positions in companies where they have strong conviction and so can exert influence on company management through formal shareholder engagement.
RSMR rates the trust because of the extensive portfolio management expertise, the well resourced stable team and the application of a disciplined and effective investment process. Given the investment approach, the trust’s performance may lag in strong earnings growth momentum markets, where valuation is less important to market participants and share prices are driven by variables other than stock specific fundamentals.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust fund
The Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust was launched in June 2010 and seeks to preserve capital and achieve long term capital growth through a globally diversified portfolio of healthcare companies. The Trust adopts a high conviction, multi capitalisation approach, but with a significant large company bias, with more than 70% of the portfolio typically invested in companies above US$10 billion in market capitalisation. This provides a stable core while retaining selective exposure to smaller and more innovative healthcare businesses.
The investment process is predominantly bottom up and fundamentally driven, combining detailed company research with active decisions around healthcare subsectors, geography and market capitalisation. The team seeks under researched or misunderstood opportunities, supported by independent research, company meetings, specialist industry contacts, financial modelling and valuation analysis. Particular emphasis is placed on innovation, product cycles, demographics, consolidation and valuation anomalies.
The portfolio is jointly managed by Gareth Powell and James Douglas, whose responsibilities are complementary. Douglas focuses mainly on the large capitalisation and more defensive areas of the portfolio, while Powell contributes higher conviction ideas in areas such as biotechnology, emerging markets and innovation. This produces a more balanced risk profile than the Polar Capital Healthcare Opportunities Fund while retaining meaningful scope to add value through stock selection and active subsector positioning.
A key strength is the depth of Polar Capital’s specialist healthcare resource and the application of that expertise to a technically complex sector. The team combines healthcare specific knowledge with detailed fundamental and valuation work, helping it assess clinical developments, regulation, product cycles and competitive dynamics in greater depth than would typically be possible for a generalist global equity manager.
Click here to read the factsheet for the Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust fund
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This information is for UK Professional Advisers only and should not be given to retail clients.
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.