By Intense Life Desires 
HL HQ
Hargreaves Lansdown has removed the Schroder Income fund from its Wealth Shortlist because of changes to the fund management team.
Lead manager Nick Kirrage has departed and has been replaced on the fund by Andrew Lyddon.
Previous co-head of the Schroder Global Value team Kevin Murphy departed in June 2024, followed by Andrew Evans in June.
HL analysts said their conviction on the fund was based on Mr Kirrage’s skill set, capabilities and experience of applying the fund’s distinct value and contrarian investment approach.
They said Mr Kirrage’s departure means they no longer have sufficient conviction in the fund’s future performance potential and therefore have removed it from the Wealth Shortlist.
The fund was added to the Wealth Shortlist on 26 February 2024. Since then, it has performed well for investors, HL said, delivering returns of 33.22% compared with 20.08% for the FTSE All Share index.
Joseph Hill, senior investment analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “After a long period of stability, the Value team at Schroders has seen a number of changes.
“We have a positive view of Nick Kirrage as an investor and are disappointed to see him leave. He has an excellent long-term track record of investing in the UK stock market. We also feel he’s been an integral part of the development of, and culture within the broader global value equity team.”
Mr Hill said the fund uses a distinct value and contrarian investment approach which means it can look quite different to its benchmark at times. “Our conviction in the fund was based on Kirrage’s skill set, capabilities and experience of consistently applying this approach.”
HL’s Wealth Shortlist is designed to help investors build well-balanced and diversified portfolios. There are currently 66 funds on the Shortlist. Earlier this month the Abrdn Global Smaller Companies fund was removed after a number of changes to the team behind the fund.
The most recent addition to the Shortlist was the JPMorgan Global Bond Opportunities fund chosen for its long-term performance potential on 15 July.
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