New Star Takes Whittaker Off Equity Income

Charles Deptford replaces Stephen Whittaker at New Star Equity Income.

Christopher J. Traulsen, CFA | 23-07-08 | E-mail Article

New Star said today that it has replaced Stephen Whittaker with Charles Deptford at the helm of New Star Equity Income.

The move, which has been expected since New Star hired Deptford from Barings, is a clear effort to by the firm to improve the fortunes of the struggling fund. Deptford's hiring was announced on April 11, but he officially joined the firm at the close of June. He previously ran Baring Equity Income and Baring UK Growth.

In that context, it's worth noting that the Baring Equity Income fund--the relevant bit for this offering--didn't cover itself in glory under Deptford. Its return from November 2006 through March 2008 (from the start of Whittaker's tenure on New Star Equity Income through the end of Deptford's on Baring Equity Income) the fund lost 7.53% annualised. Whilst that's clearly better than the 9.2% annualised lost suffered by the New Star offering in the same period, its significantly worse than the 5.8% loss suffered by the average fund in the Morningstar UK Large-Cap Value category and the 5.7% loss of the average IMA UK Equity Income offering in the period. The Baring fund's longer-term record isn't much better--from 2004 through March 2008, the whole of Deptford's tenure, it returned 0.01% annualised, a bottom quintile showing relative to its Morningstar UK Large-Cap Value peers.

On the plus side, Deptford is highly experienced, with 20 years of investment experience under his belt. He has also run a number of UK Equity-Income mandates over the course of his career in addition the Barings offering.

Whittaker will continue to manage New Star UK Growth. We think he deserves more time to turn that fund around, but he's clearly under pressure to deliver, and it remains to be seen how much longer the firm will remain patient with him there.

Christopher J. Traulsen, CFA, is Director of Pan-European and Asian Research for Morningstar Europe. He would like to hear from you, but cannot give financial advice. You can contact the author via this feedback form.
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