Baillie Gifford to begin publishing of turnover figures for retail funds

The figures, which show the percentage of the portfolio the fund manager replaces every year, will be included on individual fund factsheets from next month.

The move follows Baillie Gifford’s decision to disclose a measure of active share in portfolios last year.

This year, for example, the annual turnover for Baillie Gifford ranged from 33 per cent for the firm’s American fund to 5 per cent for the Global Discovery fund as of the end of October, according to the firm.

Baillie Gifford director of retail marketing and distribution James Budden said: “Well documented research shows that managers with a high active share, low portfolio turnover, a long investment horizon and who engage with company management are more likely to outperform indices after fees.

“We were one of the first firms to disclose our active share figures and now we are publishing turnover percentages for all our funds and trusts.

“These numbers are important because they provide evidence that we take a credible long term approach to investing in an increasingly short-term environment.

“Low turnover also points to lower trading costs which is good for investors who in turn need this kind of transparency if they are going to be able to separate the genuinely active from the index huggers and high turnover traders.”