Media Pack
LAWRENCE HOUSE FUND MANAGERS
Some questions and answers
What products does Lawrence House offer?
We offer:
- An OEIC (Open Ended Investment Company) with three underlying Multi Manager sub funds, Balanced Managed, UK Equity and Cautious Managed Funds
- A PMS (Portfolio Management Service)
- A SIPP proposition specifically for use by IFAs which can also be independently branded. we provide the fund management, D A Phillips & Co Ltd provides the administration, and the IFA provides the advice.
How do you ensure Lawrence House is kept separate from the IFA business of Pharon?
We have strict ‘Chinese Walls’ in place. Pharon advisory staff do not have access to the database of clients introduced to Lawrence House by other IFAs. Furthermore, all the administration of our PMS and OEIC is carried out by independent third parties.
Having an IFA business means we understand very well the importance IFAs place on protecting their clients from attack.
How do you market Lawrence House?
Through our IFA consultant and raising our profile via our PR company – Concise. We prefer to deal through IFAs only and we do not actively market our products through any other distribution channel.
Has Lawrence House got plans to go retail?
No.
Why should an IFA use your portfolio management service/multimanager?
IFAs want a good personal service, people they can talk to and trust, flexibility, and good performance.
We understand these needs, coming as we do from an IFA background. We can offer them that personalised service with flexibility and we represent nearly 100 years of collective experience. IFAs also know they can trust us.
Finally, our performance in terms of both investment growth and investment risk is very good.
What funds under management do you have?
Discretionary - £60 million. Advisory – in excess of £450 million.
Who manages the funds?
Alan Stokes is our Head of Investment Funds. Alan has over 30 years experience of the fund management industry.
What is your investment performance so far?
We are pleased that the funds are meeting their stated objectives.
What methods do you use to select funds?
We use both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Do you have target yields and liquidity or is your style total return?
We have target yields for the UK Equity fund as it is in now in the UK Equity Income sector. Other funds are based on the risk profile of the fund or portfolio and the objectives of the portfolio.
How long are you prepared to hold stocks – do you have any set profit/loss levels?
We have no set time periods. We are happy to run both profits and losses, if we are happy with the fund and it fits our objectives. Similarly, we will cut and run if we need to and it is never wrong to take a profit.
On what remuneration terms can IFAs deal with LHFM?
Either fees or commission.
We can offer competitive terms for fee based advisers and are prepared to discuss these with IFAs for the benefit of their clients and themselves. This can be especially beneficial to the fee charging IFA where our flexibility can assist them. We also offer institutional classes of shares that are especially attractive to the fee charging IFA as they offer lower initial and annual management charges.
For commission based advisers, we offer a range of products that provide flexible and competitive and advantageous levels of commission; both initial and trail.
Do you provide additional servicing levels in comparison to the major groups already offering such a service?
We offer a more personal and ‘hands on’ service. Our fund managers take time to meet IFAs with their clients to help them secure business and cement the IFA’s relationship with their client.
Who else provides the same or similar services either as a boutique, like yourselves, or any of the majors?
There are a number of providers of OEICs; the obvious big names include Jupiter, New Star, Hendersons and Credit Suisse. We see ourselves competing in the same league as the likes of Premier, Miton, IMS, T Bailey, and Principal.
There are fewer providers of PMS and we can compete with the private banks and wealth managers in this respect with a minimum portfolio size of just £50,000.
What size IFA do you target?
We do not limit ourselves to size and believe our products are potentially attractive to all IFAs.
What sort of assurance does an IFA get from you that you will not contact their clients direct under any circumstance?
IFAs get a personal assurance from us – our reputation hinges on it.
What would be your attitude if one of their clients wanted to switch from their IFA direct to you?
Lawrence House does not give financial advice. We would recommend the client, if they were unable to remain with their existing IFA, to contact the IFA Helpline.
Which Lawrence House funds are most popular with IFAs?
The most popular of the OEIC range is the Balanced Managed fund and within the PMS, the Balanced fund.
Have you any plans to launch new funds?
We would like to add an International Fund and an Active Managed Fund to our range.
Who does your administration?
For the PMS, BNP Paribas Fund Services Limited.
For the OEIC, Elite Fund Administration.
Why is administration outsourced?
We believe our strengths are in asset allocation, fund selection and client relationship management. Administration is a huge specialist area best left to those with the experience and resources.
Explain the SIPP proposition you have?
What we have done is link the benefits of a SIPP with the benefits of our expertise in fund management, especially PMS as this works extremely well within a SIPP tax structure.
Who does the administration for your SIPP proposition?
D A Phillips & Co.
Why did you choose D A Phillips as the administrator of the SIPP?
We have known D A Phillips for nearly 30 years and they have an enormous amount of experience in the field of pensions management. David Phillips has been involved in many industry and government committees over many years. His company is also very user friendly and this fits in with our philosophy.
Why can you not do the administration yourselves, surely there is not much to it?
Pensions is a highly complex field requiring understanding of the constantly changing legislation, as well as past rules and regulations. There is anything but ‘not much to it’!
What fees are involved in the SIPP proposition?
The Lawrence House SIPP Proposition is provided at no extra costs. The costs are very competitive and very clear – there is a charge for administering the pension structure, and then a separate charge for managing investments.
You say you will pay the first year’s charge/fees for any IFA taking on the SIPPS through you and D A Phillips. How much is that worth?
A minimum of £700 (plus VAT). If there are a number of existing arrangements to bring in then the saving is more as each transfer in costs £110 (plus VAT).
After the first ‘fee free’ year what are the subsequent fees?
For the basic SIPP, £400 (plus VAT). For investments – depends on where the client invests.
Apart from Alan Stokes who else do you have in investment management?
Mike Sargeant – MBA, MSI, ACIB. – Nearly 40 years experience of financial services; Andrew O’Shea – over 14 years experience. Further information about our key people can be found at the Personnel pages of this website.
If Alan Stokes was unavoidably absent could you continue to deliver a satisfactory management service?
Yes – we did it for over 10 years before he arrived and we would continue to do afterwards.
Do you have plans to recruit other fund managers?
Not currently as we believe we have the resources to manage discretionary funds comfortably exceeding £750 million. However we are always on the look out for any good (local) experience.