Newton restructure sees Frikkee lose Higher Income fund

Newton Investment Management’s Richard Wilmot is taking over the reins of the firm’s Higher Income  fund leaving current manager Tineke Frikkee facing an uncertain future.

Frikkee is in discussions about her role at the company after being taken off the fund which she has managed since 2004.

The news comes as the firm announces a raft of fund mergers and following a significant shift by investors away from UK equities.  

Simon Pryke, chief investment officer at Newton, said: 'We believe the UK equity team, under Richard’s leadership and working closely with our 17-strong global sector research analysts, will be well positioned to continue to successfully manage our UK equity portfolios going forward.'

Recent months have proved challenging for Frikkee and her Higher Income fund, and October saw the manager raise cash to a record level on fears quantitative easing would have little impact.

Over three years she sits in 66th position out her 97 peers in the UK equity income sector, according to Citywire data.

Announcing the changes, Newton said it is consolidating its product offering in UK equities as investors shift away from these towards global stocks, fixed income and absolute return.

The firm merged the Newton Income, Newton Growth and Newton UK Equity funds into a single vehicle and redeployed resources to other areas of the firm to take account of this shift.

Under the last three years of Frikkee's rein, the Newton Higher Income fund, formerly in Citywire Selection, has delivered 26% versus a 29.8% rise in the FTSE All Share TR index.

Newton acknowledged that the environment has been difficult for investing in higher yielding stocks of late, and in the UK the number of attractive higher yielding equities available to investors has shrunk.