Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund hits 25-year milestone
Our press enquiries team
The £1.956bn1 Artemis SmartGARP® European Equity Fund celebrated its 25th anniversary on 7 March 2026. It has been managed by Philip Wolstencroft, creator of the SmartGARP investment process, since inception – making him one of the longest-serving managers of a UK-domiciled fund2.
The fund has achieved top-decile returns within the IA Europe Excluding UK sector since launch and is the best-performing fund in its peer group over one, three and five years3 to 28 February 2026.
Fund manager Philip Wolstencroft commented: “The long-term success of our European fund lies in its ability to uncover stocks that grow faster than the market. More recently, the re-rating of our stocks from incredibly low levels to valuations that are merely quite cheap has been a powerful tailwind. We think there is further to go on the re-rating front and in the meantime, we believe our SmartGARP investment process can continue to alight on long-term growers.”
The SmartGARP investment process uses a stock-screening tool which ranks approximately 6,000 global companies daily against eight factors: growth, valuation, estimate revisions, momentum, accruals, ESG, macroeconomic data and investor sentiment.
Wolstencroft explained: “SmartGARP is a way of ranking companies around the world so we can spend our time, as fund managers, picking stocks with the best characteristics. I think it has stood the test of time over 25 years because it is based on common sense: looking for stocks that are cheaper than the market, but growing faster.
“Financial markets seem to be increasingly driven by current events, news stories, sentiment and excitement – whereas the beauty of SmartGARP is that it cuts through all the noise and focuses our attention on factors that have been proven to drive share prices.”
Teun Johnston, Artemis’ chief executive officer, said: “SmartGARP is a unique, systematic investment process that is scalable, repeatable and has generated outstanding performance across the SmartGARP range over the long run4. The process generates portfolios that look materially different to both peer funds5 and benchmarks. The portfolios have lower valuations than the relevant benchmarks, whilst possessing attractive growth characteristics6.
“The SmartGARP European Equity Fund is a great example of how active management can deliver meaningful outperformance and grow clients’ wealth over the long term – whilst also offering diversification.”
Notes and references
1 Source: Artemis as at 28 February 2026
2 Source: Morningstar as at 31 January 2026
3 Source: Lipper Limited, Artemis to 28 February 2026; please refer to the fund's performance data here.
4 The four SmartGARP funds with track records exceeding a decade (the SmartGARP European, UK, Global and Global Emerging Markets funds) are all top-quartile performers in their respective sectors over one, three and five years and since launch, according to data from Lipper Limited and Artemis to 28 February 2026.
5 Source: Morningstar/Artemis as at 31 December 2025
6 The four SmartGARP funds with track records exceeding a decade (the SmartGARP European, UK, Global and Global Emerging Markets funds) all have valuations that are significantly cheaper than their benchmarks, as measured by their price-to-earnings ratios. The funds’ growth characteristics, as measured by return on equity, are similar to their benchmarks (source: Artemis as at 31 January 2026).
This is a marketing communication. Before making any final investment decisions, and to understand the investment risks involved, refer to the fund prospectus and KIID/KID, available in English and in your local language (depending on local country registration), from the relevant fund page or literature section on www.artemisfunds.com. The documents can also be found on www.fundinfo.com.
CAPITAL AT RISK. All financial investments involve taking risk and the value of your investment may go down as well as up. This means your investment is not guaranteed and you may not get back as much as you put in. Any income from the investment is also likely to vary and cannot be guaranteed.
Risks specific to Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
- Market volatility risk The value of the fund and any income from it can fall or rise because of movements in stockmarkets, currencies and interest rates, each of which can move irrationally and be affected unpredictably by diverse factors, including political and economic events.
- Currency risk The fund’s assets may be priced in currencies other than the fund base currency. Changes in currency exchange rates can therefore affect the fund's value.
- Charges from capital risk Where charges are taken wholly or partly out of a fund's capital, distributable income may be increased at the expense of capital, which may constrain or erode capital growth.
