The stellar performance of many Baillie Gifford funds in 2020 means they have become some of the most viewed on Trustnet, while favourites from the likes of Fundsmith and Lindsell Train have slipped. 
The coronavirus pandemic and the mass lockdowns used to tackle it caused significant moves in markets last year, with 2020’s first quarter witnessing an intense sell-off. This was quickly followed by a strong rally, as policymakers supported the global economy with massive injections of liquidity.
Against this backdrop, investors were busy keeping an eye on how their funds were performing and investigating new potential holdings so we have taken a look at which fund factsheets were the most popular on Trustnet over 2020.
As the table below shows, Fundsmith Equity held onto its position as the most-viewed Trustnet factsheet. As one of the largest and best-known funds in the industry, it is often the most popular on the site.
Source: FE Analytics
However, even a quick look at the table reveals that there have been some big changes in the remaining funds in the top-10.
Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity went from the third most-viewed factsheet to the second as the multi-asset solution continues to be a popular choice for investors seeking a low-cost core of their portfolios but the most obvious trend has been the arrival of several Baillie Gifford funds in the top 10.
This has pushed out funds like LF Lindsell Train UK Equity, Jupiter European, BNY Mellon Global Income and Invesco UK Equity High Income (UK).
This shouldn’t be too surprising, given the strong year that Baillie Gifford’s strategies have just had. As Trustnet covered yesterday, the firm’s funds were some of the best performers in 2020 with Baillie Gifford American making the highest return of the entire Investment Association universe after gaining 121.84 per cent.
Baillie Gifford is known for its long-term investment approach and a philosophy that leads its managers to quality-growth stocks, often those that are disrupting their industries through technology.
This means many of its portfolios hold positions in so-called coronavirus winners. In the top-10 of Baillie Gifford American, for example, are the likes of Tesla, Amazon, Zoom Video Communications, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet – all of which rallied strongly during 2020.
In addition to Baillie Gifford American topping in the IA North America sector and whole Investment Association universe, Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Investment was the best performer in the IA Global sector (with Baillie Gifford Positive Change in second place).
Performance of funds vs sector over 2020
Source: FE Analytics
Baillie Gifford Managed, Baillie Gifford Pacific and Baillie Gifford Japanese Smaller Companies were at the top of their peer groups, while a similar trend was seen among investment trusts run by the group.
Ben Yearsley, investment consultant at Fairview Investing, said: “There was only one name in the fund and trust world last year: Baillie Gifford. They truly dominated both open and closed end universes the like of which I have never seen before. Three of the top five funds and four of the top five trusts were managed by Baillie Gifford as they hit the sweet spot in so many different areas.”
The extent to which Baillie Gifford’s funds shot up in popularity last year is perhaps better illustrated if we look at the change in the share of overall Trustnet factsheet views.
As we have seen, Fundsmith Equity was the most viewed fund on Trustnet last year; its factsheet views accounted for 2.01 per cent of the total. However, this is a fall from the 2.31 per cent share it won in 2019.
The below table reveals the 30 funds with the biggest increase in Trustnet traffic share between 2019 and 2020, with Baillie Gifford coming out very strongly indeed after eight of its funds made it onto the list.
Source: FE Analytics
There have been some major jumps in interest here. Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth Investment was the 621st most-viewed fund on Trustnet in 2019 but went into 18th place in 2020, Baillie Gifford Positive Change went from 422nd to seventh and Baillie Gifford Pacific from 317th to 25th.
However, this isn’t the only trend we can see.
Last year was a good one for strategies with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach and ESG funds such as Baillie Gifford Positive Change, Royal London Sustainable World Trust and Liontrust Sustainable Future Global Growth were viewed more by Trustnet readers following strong performance.
The continued rise of tech stocks drove traffic to the likes of Polar Capital Global Technology, L&G Global Technology Index Trust and Smith & Williamson Artificial Intelligence.
Demand for safe-haven gold amid the pandemic’s uncertainty also led to an increase in interest in funds like LF Ruffer Gold.
Source: FE Analytics
The 15 funds that saw the largest falls in their share of Trustnet factsheet views can be seen in the table above, which includes some big names like Fundsmith Equity, Invesco UK Equity High Income (UK), BNY Mellon Global Income and Artemis Income.
The £8.3bn Lindsell Train Global Equity fund, which was the second-most viewed factsheet in 2019 but fell into eighth place last year, witnessed the largest drop in research share. The fund made 11.73 per cent last year – underperforming its MSCI World benchmark and putting it in the third quartile of the IA Global sector.
Stablemate LF Lindsell Train UK Equity fared somewhat better, with its 2.47 per cent loss beating both its average IA UK All Companies peer (down 5.99 per cent) and FTSE All Share benchmark (down 9.82 per cent). But the fund still slipped from being the fourth most-viewed Trustnet factsheet in 2019 to the 17th in 2020.