22/08/2007

'AA’ For Standard Life Investments’ UK Gilt Fund

Leading fund manager, Standard Life Investments today celebrates the news that its’ UK Gilt Fund has been awarded a prestigious ‘AA’ rating from Standard & Poor’s (S&P). The fund was launched in May 1986 and has returned 289.57% to investors since launch versus a sector average of 228.99%1. In addition to this, the fund has produced top decile performance over 6 months and has been top quartile over 3 months, 1 and 2 years.

The announcement means that 14 of Standard Life Investments’ 22 eligible mutual funds are rated ‘A’ or above by Standard & Poor’s.

Claire Marshall, Investment Director – Mutual Funds at Standard Life Investments, said:

“This latest award is thanks to the skills and expertise of co-fund managers Philip Laing and Ian Pizer and the highly experienced fixed interest team they work with. The fact that 64% of our mutual fund range is rated by Standard & Poor’s, shows that our investment process is recognised across the breadth of our asset class range. The UK Gilt Fund joins our AAA Income, Corporate Bond, UK Equity Unconstrained, UK Smaller Companies, UK Ethical, UK Equity High Income, and UK Equity Growth funds which also hold the prestigious ‘AA’ rating.

Co-fund manager of the UK Gilt Fund, Philip Laing, said;

"The fund's success has been due to a tightly shared management approach which as well as closely assessing economic fundamentals, has increasingly focussed on technical trading ranges within bond markets. While maintaining a clear longer term strategic view, the fund looks to identify key pressure points in markets and accordingly takes advantage of short-term trading positions. Looking forward, bond markets increasingly suffer from short spells of volatility and are then becalmed where the influence of technical trading ranges dominate. The fund will look to gain performance both in the busy periods and just as importantly in the quiet ones."