Aurora UK Alpha (ARR)

Aurora UK Alpha (ARR), managed by Phoenix Asset Management, continues the legacy of Aurora Investment Trust following its merger with Artemis Alpha (ATS) in December 2024. This combination resulted in a larger vehicle, which should lead to lower Charges and make the trust more investible for a broader range of investors. Kartik Kumar, the former manager of ATS, has joined the Management team at Phoenix led by founder and CIO Gary Channon, where he manages a portion of Aurora's capital while adhering to Phoenix's investment approach.

Nonetheless, ARR’s investment strategy remains unchanged, with the team running a highly concentrated Portfolio, typically consisting of 10 to 20 companies they view as strong businesses with sustainable competitive advantages and trading on attractive valuations. For example, the managers believe the market underestimates housebuilder Barratt Redrow, one of the trust’s largest positions, arguing that its pricing power is not well recognised and that housebuilders’ accounting practices are often misunderstood. The team is comfortable allocating high weights to specific positions, reflecting their conviction in those names. For instance, the top five holdings – Castelnau Group, Frasers Group, Barratt Redrow, Lloyds Banking Group, and Ryanair – currently account for 66% of the portfolio.

While the team is happy not trading for extended periods if they do not identify suitable opportunities, they were more active than usual in 2025, building three new positions. The names remain undisclosed, as ARR typically only reports stocks exceeding 3% weight.

ARR has not used Gearing since Phoenix became the trust’s investment manager in 2016 and currently holds a net cash position of 0.5%. At the time of writing, the trust was trading at a Discount of 9.5%.