Randal Goldsmith: We like the AXA Framlington Managed Balanced Fund because of its straightforward equities and bonds approach. Lead manager Richard Peirson has selected the UK equities and bonds and he has used AXA Framlington's regional managers to select the overseas equities.
For equities, they've looked for reasonably priced growth stocks. And on the bond side, they've focused on government issues. It's a simple low-cost approach that has worked over the long-term.
So, why is it that we put the fund under review? AXA Framlington have announced that Richard Peirson is handing over significant parts of the management of the portfolio. In particular, his backup Jamie Hooper takes over management of the UK equities part of the portfolio and Nick Hayes takes over management of the bonds. Those two combined are about 50% of the total portfolio. So, it's pretty significant. In addition, the fixed income portion of the portfolio will be managed just slightly differently. It will now include corporate bonds.