Fidelity Special Values on review as Shah steps down

9 July 2012 | By Gary Jackson

Morningstar has placed the rating of the £280.7m Fidelity Special Values investment trust under review after a manager change was announced.

Sanjeev Shah will step down from managing the trust to concentrate on his open-ended £2.2bn Fidelity Special Situations fund. Alex Wright, manager of the £51m Fidelity UK Smaller Companies fund, will replace Shah on the trust on September 1.

Morningstar investment trust research director Jackie Beard says: “We have placed the fund’s rating under review and will be meeting with Wright shortly after he takes over, to assess the impact on the fund for existing shareholders.

“We understand the fund will have more of a focus on small and mid-cap stocks under Wright’s management and the heavy bet on banking will most likely be reduced as a result.”

Morningstar gives the trust a four star rating. Its silver Morningstar qualitative analyst rating is now under review.

The Fidelity Special Values investment trust has underperformed the FTSE All Share Index over one, three and five years to May 31, according to Morningstar. However, performance has beaten the benchmark more recently with Shah outperforming over one and six months.

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