Rosemary Banyard believes by benchmarking against the FTSE Smaller Companies index, she and co-manager Andy Brough are taking a more purist approach in their £222m (€240m, €353m) Schroder UK Smaller Companies fund than many of their peers.

She says many funds in the IMA UK Smaller Companies sector use the Hoare Govett Smaller Companies (HGSC) index, which includes about 100 mid-cap names, rather than its FTSE equivalent, which is just small cap.