Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research has upgraded the River and Mercantile World Recovery fund from a Positive Prospect to an A-rating.

Positive Prospect ratings are awarded to newer funds or untested strategies that Square Mile's team of analysts feel have the potential to deliver. By awarding this fund an A-rating, Square Mile confirms its confidence in the fund's managers and investment process.

Square Mile's recommended funds, which sit within the Academy of Funds, carry a rating - A, AA, AAA, R or P+ - as reflection of the level of conviction Square Mile's team of analysts has in a fund's ability to deliver on expectations. Square Mile's independent, qualitative research is designed to offer advisers a solid foundation for client investment propositions and recommendations.

Commenting on the River and Mercantile World Recovery fund, Andrew Johnston, Senior Investment Research Analyst at Square Mile, said:

"We hold Mr Sergeant and the R&M equity team in high regard. Mr Sergeant has many years' experience of the UK equity market and we consider him to be a very able value manager. Over recent years he has been building his investment process to encompass global stocks and River and Mercantile has invested heavily to support this development. We believe that Mr Sergeant's skills as an investor will be transferable to this new arena and that he has now built up sufficient experience of dealing with this much enlarged investment universe. As a result our previous Positive Prospect rating has been upgraded to a full A rating.

River and Mercantile World Recovery fund has aggressive investment objectives, a deep value bias and it will undoubtedly perform differently to the benchmark over short time periods. However, over the longer term, we consider that the fund is capable of generating returns significantly ahead of the global equity market."