Lead Manager and Mr Hepworth

Mr Hepworth: I find those who are articulate in explaining what they do in the first few minutes of a meeting often make the best fund managers, according to The Independent. Here and now, Mr Hepworth generally expects to maintain a higher weighting in shares, especially as he currently finds greater value in equities than he does in bonds and Mr Hepworth joined Ecclesiastical 26 years ago and has been lead manager of the Ecclesiastical Higher Income fund since its launch in 1994. In a recent meeting with the manager, he explained his investment approach and philosophy succinctly, without unnecessary jargon and without the need for me to go into a dark room afterwards to try and understand it all. As a multi-asset portfolio, the Higher Income fund typically holds about 70 per cent in shares and 30 per cent in bonds and cash. The manager is, however, prepared to be flexible with this positioning: leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, the bond and cash weighting was increased significantly to almost 70 per cent of the portfolio, which provided some shelter against the worst of the stock market falls. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.