Aberdeen Asset Managers has topped the league of asset management companies in the UK, which have been ranked by French business school EDHEC and ratings agency EuroPerformance. Their alpha league table uses methodology developed by EDHEC.

Frequency of alpha is high, with 81.2 per cent of selected funds generating significantly positive alpha. Aberdeen managed a score of 2.82 per cent. Jupiter Asset Management, with 2.68 per cent, comes second and M&G Securities third with 2.51 per cent.

The rankings are dominated by the firms that attract the largest asset inflows, so it is no surprise to see such firms as Schroders, Fidelity or Invesco were also in the top ten.

Overall, by the yardstick of alpha generated in equity funds, the results of UK asset management firms are far superior to those noted in earlier analyses of French, Italian, Spanish, and Swiss firms. With a frequency of funds delivering alpha of over 45 per cent and average alpha of 2.6 per cent, UK asset managers were found to provide very strong active asset management.

Average alpha is high in all investment zones. Asia and sector funds offer the greatest opportunities, with alpha levels of 5 per cent. The large number of international funds, with average alpha of 3 per cent, is characteristic of the quality of UK asset management. Europe, emerging markets, and Japan generate average alpha of between 2 and 3 per cent. Funds invested in UK securities, however, have an average of less than 3 per cent.

On average, the “alpha” funds favour large-cap stocks and the share of small caps is limited to 30 per cent of the portfolios.