Investment Oscars: best performers over the past year

We've had the Golden Globes, the Grammys, the BAFTAs and the Brits. Now the film industry is gearing up for its biggest night of the year - the Oscars.

The stars will be congregating in Los Angeles this Sunday evening for the 91st Academy Awards and, with no host this year, we'll be treated instead to a who's-who line-up of presenters handing out the statuettes.

But from our own nominee list – the Chelsea Selection – which funds would walk away with the gong?

We take a look at the best performers over the past 12 months.

1. Best Picture: Polar Capital Healthcare Opportunities

There are more than 3,750 funds with a one-year track record* available to UK investors. Of these funds the very best performing is Polar Capital Healthcare Opportunities, which has returned 27.77%** over the past 12 months. Managed by Gareth Powell and Daniel Mahony, the fund invests in healthcare-related companies of all sizes. From biotech to drug retailers, application software and pharmaceuticals, they scour the whole sector for ideas, looking for themes in the market and identify companies that are reasonably priced and with good growth prospects.

2. Best Actor/Actress: Baillie Gifford Global Discovery

Renowned for the quality of its in-house research, Baillie Gifford brought its small-cap teams together in 2011 to form the global discovery team. Douglas Brodie became manager of this fund in May 2011 and it has been a star performer ever since: third out of 188 funds in its sector over Douglas's tenure** and the top performing generalist global equity fund over one year, returning 20.88%*. It has a strong growth bias and is aggressive in nature. Douglas looks to invest in the most innovative and fast-growing companies in the world.

3. Best Director: AXA Framlington Global Technology

The technology sector has led the direction of stock markets in general in recent months, so what better fund than this for 'Best Director'? Run by Jeremy Gleeson since 2007, it is an unconstrained multi-cap fund that seeks growth from technology stocks from around the world, the lack of constraints around this fund mean it is free to invest in 'new technology' rather than 'old commodity' companies. It returned 19.50% over the last 12 months*, aided by having four of the five 'FAANG' companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google's parent company Alphabet) in its top ten holdings.

4. Best Original Screenplay: AXA Framlington American Growth

Managed by Stephen Kelly, this is the fourth best performing Chelsea Selection fund over the past year, returning 18.25%*. Innovation, unique brands and intellectual property are the sort of features that can give companies a competitive advantage, helping them grow into market leaders. And it's these kind of original stories that Steve Kelly and his team hope to uncover in their quest for growth stocks in the US market.

5. Best Supporting Actor/Actress: Fundsmith Equity

Our fifth best performing fund is at the core of many portfolios supporting long term performance.

It is the top performing fund in its sector since launch*** and has beaten its sector average in each calendar year***. Manager Terry Smith invests in high quality, well-established companies and doesn't seek to find tomorrow's winners, rather to invest in companies that have already won. He likes resilient businesses that have high returns on equity and whose advantages are difficult to replicate. Over the past year it has returned 15.02%*.

Please remember that one year is classed as being very short term when it comes to investments and that pass performance is not a guide to future performance.

*Source: FE Analytics, total returns in sterling of all funds with one-year track records in the Investment Association sectors, as at 19 February 2019
**Source: FE Analytics, total returns in sterling, 3 May 2011 to 20 February 2019
***Source: FE Analytics, total returns in sterling, 1 November 2010 to 20 February 2019