Following the announcement that Adrian Gosden is to leave Artemis at the end of June, Square Mile have suspended the AA and A ratings on the Artemis Income and Artemis High Income funds, respectively.

The Artemis Income fund will continue to be co-managed by Adrian Frost and Nick Shenton. Mr Frost, in particular, is a highly experienced investor who has been associated with this fund since January 2002. We are also encouraged by his commitment to the business for at least a further three years. The Artemis High Income fund invests around 20% in UK equities, managed by Mr Gosden, however the remainder of the assets are invested in fixed income securities and we continue to retain conviction in the bond team at Artemis.

These are high profile funds within the UK market and the decision to suspend the ratings was not taken lightly. We will seek to meet with Mr Frost and Mr Shenton over the coming weeks with a view to assessing the structure of the UK income investment team going forwards. The remaining managers will caretake the equity portion of the High Income fund but we would like further clarity on the long term management of this strategy.