On 18^th January 2019, Schroders announced that Jenny Jones, fund manager and Head of US Small Cap and SMID Equities, is planning to retire at the end of March 2019.  She is co-manager of the Schroder US Mid Cap and Schroder US Smaller Companies.

Her successor will be Bob Kaynor, who will be promoted to Head of US Small Cap and SMID Equities.  Mr Kaynor joined Schroders in 2013, working closely with Ms Jones as Director of Small and SMID Cap Research.  He was appointed co-manager of the US Small and SMID Cap equity funds in January 2018, alongside Ms Jones.  He has more than twenty years of fundamental research and investment experience.

Schroder has been making plans for Ms Jones’ retirement for several years and therefore, the fund management capabilities are in place.  The firm has indicated that there will be no changes to the philosophy or process underpinning the funds.

Ms Jones has had a long and distinguished career as a US Small Cap and SMID equity manager and has been in the industry since 1980.  During her time at Schroders, she fostered an organised and diligent approach that reflected her strongly-held beliefs that original, bottom-up research can create an information edge in the less efficient segments of the market. She is passionate about the long-term opportunities in the asset class but also invests with an innate sense of risk, diversifying portfolio holdings across higher growth, stable growth and turnaround companies.

We know Mr Kaynor as part of our ongoing monitoring of the Schroder US Mid Cap fund and the Schroder US Smaller Companies fund and we have no plans to alter our Established and Recommended endorsements.   The Schroder US Mid Cap fund features on our Established list , as, through the success of the US Mid Cap strategy, the firm has garnered significant assets under management.  The fund remains open to new and existing investors.

It has been a pleasure to meet with Ms Jones over the years to discuss the funds and we send her our very best wishes for her retirement.