Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research has added the Artemis US Smaller Companies fund to its Academy of Funds, awarding it an A rating. The fund aims to achieve long term capital growth by investing principally in smaller companies listed, quoted or traded in the United States of America. At the same time, the L&G UK Property fund has had the suspension of its Recommended rating removed.

The Academy of Funds is a dedicated section within Square Mile's website, where advisers can access analysis on all recommended funds. Each fund carries a rating - A, AA, AAA, R or P+ - as a mark of quality and a reflection of the level of conviction Square Mile's team of analysts has in a fund's ability to deliver on expectations.

Commenting on the Artemis US Smaller Companies fund, John Monaghan, Square Mile's Senior Investment Research Analyst, said:

"Square Mile is pleased to award an A rating to the Artemis US Smaller Companies fund. The fund sits within a range of five US strategies offered by the US equity team at Artemis, and is one of three managed by team head, Cormac Weldon.

We hold both the manager and team in high regard and believe that this strategy is an attractive offering for investors seeking US equity exposure further down the market capitalisation scale."

Commenting on the L&G UK Property fund, Victoria Hasler, Head of Research said:

"In early July we took the difficult decision to suspend all recommended ratings on directly invested property strategies within the Academy of Funds. This was largely based on market conditions within UK commercial property market in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote. We have continued to monitor the situation very closely over the summer months and are now satisfied that these conditions, whilst perhaps not easy, have somewhat normalised.

Therefore we have lifted our blanket suspension and are now in a position to revert back to our normal practice of considering recommendations on an individual fund basis. Given that the L&G UK Property fund remains open and has now removed its fair value pricing adjustment, we are pleased to announce the reinstatement of our recommendation for this fund.

The other four property funds in the Academy remain closed at the current time and thus we feel it prudent to maintain the suspension of the ratings on these funds. We will reassess the rating of each fund as and when newsflow comes through, but in general we would like to see a successful reopening, with sufficient cash levels to fully meet any client redemptions, before we would feel comfortable in recommending these funds to investors again."