Asset Allocator recently discovered Morningstar data revealing that outflows from Liontrust’s flagship Special Situations fund are running at around £100mn a month, but whatever the reason for this, the DFMs we cover are not among those heading for the exit. 

The fund, which is managed by the very long-serving Anthony Cross and colleagues, has shrunk from a peak of £6.5bn in August 2021 to £3.9bn today.

But it continues to be owned by seven of the allocators we cover, with no recent sellers.

Darius McDermott, investment adviser to the Chelsea Managed Funds range who holds the fund, said: "This is a core multi-cap UK equity fund with a quality bias. It has a strong and consistent team running it under the same process since launch.

"The reason for the underperformance over the last couple of years is a bias to growth and to small and mid cap stocks. That part of the market has been out of favour. We still hold the fund in very high regards and continue to hold it."

In performance terms, the fund has lost 1 per cent over the past year, compared with a 3 per cent gain for the average product in the IA UK All Companies sector over the same time period. 

On a five year view, the fund is up 21 per cent, compared with 18 per cent for the sector average, placing it firmly in the middle of the pack. 

The largest sector exposure in the fund is to consumer products, while all of the top 10 holdings are FTSE 100 companies. 

With sentiment towards UK equities being so negative right now, it's not surprising that few of the UK All Companies funds around have attracted fresh buyers over the past year with perhaps the notable exception of Artemis UK Select, run by Ed Legget, which has picked up two new buyers during the year.