“Alpha funds have historically been marketed as very concentrated funds – in order to be an alpha fund, you’ve got to have a small number of very high-conviction ideas,” Mr Matthews says.
“[I want to] generate alpha through high risk-adjusted returns. That can be done in different ways, but I want it to be consistent in rising and falling markets. If you look at the historic alpha of my old fund over a long period of time, it was very high without lots of market risk.”
Mr Matthews remains very much ‘on message’ throughout the interview. This is understandable for a man who is running one of the most well-known products in the UK retail market and who has been on a fairly intense marketing ‘tour’.
When asked what attracted him to Schroders, the manager says simply: “It was a big challenge.”
“This is a flagship fund with a high-profile history,” he adds. “As a manager you want to test your ability.”
He also highlights the simplified nature of his role when compared to working at Jupiter. No longer does Mr Matthews run pension funds and smaller mandates alongside his main fund – it’s the UK Alpha Plus fund and nothing else.
While some might argue the UK equities team now in place at Schroders is too large – it includes Mr Matthews and Julie Dean, alongside equity income managers Matt Hudson, Nick Kirrage and Ian Murphy, not to mention Paul Marriage, Andy Brough and Alex Breese – unsurprisingly none of said managers seem to worry about competing over similar territory.
“The team that Schroders is building up is very, very good,” says Mr Matthews.
With that line-up in place and encouraging short-term performance – six of the company’s nine UK equity products are in the top or second quartile of their respective sectors in the 12 months to May 30 – it is difficult to argue with him.
Philip Matthews’ CV
2013 – present
Schroders: Manager, Schroder UK Alpha Plus fund
2013
Manager, Jupiter UK Alpha fund
2011/13
Co-manager, Jupiter Income fund
2006/13
Manager, Jupiter Growth & Income fund
2002/06
Manager, Jupiter UK Smaller Companies fund
1999-2013
Jupiter Asset Management
1998-1999
Chesterton plc
