ONE of the most impressive financial advertising campaigns belongs to Jupiter. The entrepreneurial fund management group has doubled its share of the Pep market in two years, largely on the back of its performance claims, which nearly always show its funds as first in their sector, writes Simon Bain.
To be named by Money Management Magazine as UK & Europe fund manager of the year for the past three years, and best overall unit trust company this year is no mean accolade.
Jupiter boasts of being ''leaders in long-term performance''. Its weighted performance across all funds puts it either first or second in the Investment Intelligence league of unit trust groups in all time periods up to 10 years except over one year, where it comes 16th.
It looks fabulous in these tables against the big groups - partly because its funds are largely in the UK and Europe with little exposure to the more volatile overseas markets. However, the one-year performance has been relatively poor, prompting the question: is this the wrong time to join Jupiter?
Premier Asset Management, which advised investors to bale out of Morgan Grenfell's European trusts shortly before they blew up, advised caution on the flagship Jupiter Income trust a year ago, warning the weight of money coming in would inevitably swamp its eclectic style and make it even harder to maintain its record.
Premier's Mike O'Shea says: ''They have got the business in by shooting the lights out and now they are going to be a bit more conservative. They will be a pretty sound fund management house who will get it right over the long term.''
Peter Griffiths-Buchanan at Whitelaw Wells Financial Planning says: ''Fund performance is consistently above average and volatility is below average.''
Marketing manager Steve Glinn says: ''We don't aim to be number one in the sector, but most of our long-term funds are number one since launch thanks to strength in depth in our team.''
RATING ***
*** Worth considering
** Shop around
* Hype alert
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