Choosing a company

Past performance

The most important point about past performance is that although it may indicate the return to date on an investment, it doesn’t necessarily give any guidance about future performance. In fact, you should never buy an investment company purely on the basis of past performance and should always consider other factors.

Some of these factors include the company's operating costs, the level of risk, your own investment objectives, the type and size of the company and so on. If interested in receiving income, you need to bear in mind the level of income a company has intended to produce versus what it has actually produced.

Nevertheless, an investment company's history and the future implications of this are important when assessing a particular company.

The performance figures on this website are for lump sum investments only and are calculated on a mid-market to mid-market basis, making no allowances for charges that occur at the time of transaction. Transaction costs include dealing charges, stamp duty (on purchase only), charges for advice and/or charges to buy or sell within a wrapper product.

You should be aware of the risks associated with equity investments. Actual results may be materially different from past performance or from any forecast, opinion or expectation expressed on this website or any other publication. Market and currency movements may cause the value of investments and the income from them to fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested when you decide to sell your investments.

Sector classification 

Further information