Jonathan Miller, the head of research for Citywire, said: "Fewer than 20pc of the 1,200 managers tracked by us receive a rating each month. This takes into account the risk taken to beat their index over three years.
"This research has found those best at maintaining a Citywire rating during unprecedented market extremes. Fund managers who have been able to navigate through this period with consistent performance stand out from the crowd, and are ones I believe are worth backing for the long term."
Below we examine these magnificent seven – one for each of the most popular investment sectors. We give their current Citywire rating and see how they've performed over the past five, three and one years, based on £1,000 invested, according to Morningstar.co.uk
UK ALL COMPANIES
Thomas Dobell
M & G Recovery
5-year performance: £1,530
3-year performance: £1,029
1-year performance: £1,082
Current Citywire rating: AA
Thomas Dobell is one of the most consistent performers of the past three years. Rated by Citywire for every one of the 36 months to the end of August, Mr Dobell has also ranked in the top quartile (top 25pc) of his peers when looking at performance over the past five and three years.
He has managed the Recovery fund since 2000. The fund is the largest the UK All Companies sector, with £5.4bn under management.
Choosing to invest heavily in commodities has paid off for Mr Dobell, despite the sector's unpredictability and the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The fund's five biggest holdings still feature BP, Tullow Oil and Royal Dutch Shell.
In total, oil and gas make up more than a fifth of his portfolio, which also has 14pc in basic materials. Thirteen per cent of the fund is invested in industrials, and there is also a sizeable allocation to consumer services and financials.
Before joining M & G Mr Dobell worked for Phillips & Drew, in the charity and pension fund division.
UK EQUITY INCOME
Leigh Harrison
Threadneedle UK Equity Income
5-year performance: £1,295
3-year performance: £956
1-year performance: £1,077
Current Citywire rating: AA
Leigh Harrison has managed Threadneedle's equity income fund since March 2006. He joined from Credit Suisse, where he worked under Bill Mott, one of Britain's longest standing equity income managers.
Mr Harrison has a reputation for being a cautious investor, but his approach has paid off – over the past three years his fund has returned nearly 3pc, an impressive feat considering that the index has lost 14pc.
Previously a stockbroker, Mr Harrison prefers a bottom-up approach to stock picking and has a diverse portfolio including 22pc in industrials, 18pc in consumer services and almost equal weightings in consumer goods, health care and financials.
His two biggest stocks are pharmaceuticals GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, while Royal Dutch Shell, British American Tobacco and BT make up the rest of the top five.
The fund has £700m under management and Mr Harrison is looking to invest more in small and medium-sized companies with global exposure, as he believes that, should we enter a double dip, these companies will be least affected.
GLOBAL EMERGING MARKETS
Devan Kaloo
Aberdeen Emerging Markets
5-year performance: £2,484
3-year performance: £1,479
1-year performance: £1,243
Current Citywire rating: AA
In the first half of this year, Devan Kaloo and his 18-strong team managed to return 8.5pc – leaving the MSCI index, up by 1.4pc over the same period, trailing in the fund's wake. Mr Kaloo is head of global emerging markets at Aberdeen, where he has been since 2001.
He has recently launched the Aberdeen Latin American Income fund and his Emerging Markets fund has a bias in this region, with 18pc invested in Brazil. The second biggest regional holding is Hong Kong and China with 14pc, followed by India on 12pc and then Mexico, where he is 7pc invested.
In the run-up to the recent Brazilian presidential elections, Mr Kaloo was vocal about the region, saying it was no longer just "a play on the world's thirst for raw materials".
Mr Kaloo likes financials, investing the largest chunk of his portfolio, 28pc, in the sector, as well as about 10pc in oil and gas, consumer services, consumer goods and technology.
Every year, Mr Kaloo and his team travel the world meeting more than 1,000 different companies in order to assess whether they are suitable to be selected for the fund. Mr Kaloo credits this personal approach for the outstanding performance of the fund in the past decade.
SPECIALIST
Philip Gibbs
Jupiter Financial Opportunities
5-year performance: £1,470
3-year performance: £1,080
1-year performance: £847
Current Citywire rating: AAA
Philip Gibbs was the one fund manager John Duffield couldn't prise away from Jupiter when he left the company he founded to set up New Star. But this quiet, cricket-loving fund manager is a firm favourite among financial advisers.
Mr Gibbs has never failed to receive a Citywire rating and has outperformed his sector in nine of the past 10 years.
In June Mr Gibbs was joined on the Financial Opportunities fund by Guy de Blonay, formerly of New Star, and the two dramatically reduced the fund's US weighting as Mr Gibbs worried about unemployment figures and a less than roaring economic recovery.
At the same time the pair increased the fund's exposure to Chinese financials, with Bank of China and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China moving into the fund's top 10 holdings.
Mr Gibbs also manages the Jupiter Absolute Return fund. Such is his reputation that this fund has winged its way on to financial advisers' recommended lists even though it has little track record to speak of.
BONDS
Richard Woolnough
M & G Strategic Corp Bond
5-year performance: £1,427
3-year performance: £1,397
1-year performance: £1,083
Current Citywire rating: A
Richard Woolnough is a fixed interest stalwart who has been managing money since 1987.
The reputation he built at Old Mutual, where he managed equities, brings "a different angle to his approach to investing in fixed interest", according to Justine Fearns of AWD Chase de Vere.
When markets were down in 2007 and 2008, the most the strategic corporate bond fund lost was 5.2pc – one of the lowest levels of loss in the sector.
This fund is free to invest up to 20pc in global and other UK bond markets, although currently 99pc of the fund is in UK fixed income, with the remaining 1pc in cash.
Ninety-two per cent of the fund is invested in corporate bonds, and 7pc is invested in gilts.
Ms Fearns recommends this fund, and AWD Chase de Vere holds it in its clients' portfolios. She added: "Mr Woolnough's track record at M & G is very impressive and with the investment freedom afforded by M & G, within a risk-managed environment with the support of a large number of analysts, this should help him continue to deliver."
ASIA PACIFIC EX JAPAN
Martin Lau
First State Greater China Growth
5-year performance: £2,692
3-year performance: £1,257
1-year performance: £1,223
Current Citywire rating: AA
Like Mr Gibbs, Mr Lau has never failed to receive a Citywire rating, and he has outperformed the Golden Dragon index, which is a composite of the China, Hong Kong and Taiwan indices, in every one of the past five years – generating returns of 175pc.
Martin Lau was appointed director of greater china equities in October 2003 following the merger of the Edinburgh-based Asia Pacific team with the Hong Kong and Singapore Asian teams in September 2003.
Mr Lau joined First State Investments in April 2002 from Invesco, where he managed the Greater China funds, Smaller Companies fund and regional portfolios.
However, Mr Lau is uncertain about the region's future, believing it to be overhyped and over-invested – which threatens China's short-term growth.
He also worries about the slowing demand for technology and considers Chinese property prices to be unsustainable.
EUROPE EX UK
Rob Burnett
Neptune European Opportunities
5-year performance: £1,591
3-year performance: £974
1-year performance: £951
Current Citywire rating: A
Rob Burnett joined Neptune in 2002 as an analyst, but quickly rose through the ranks to become manager of its flagship fund, the Neptune European Opportunities, less than three years later.
Mr Burnett has beaten the market in four of the past five years, and is fast becoming one of the heavyweights of the European equities world.
In the second quarter of this year, the FTSE Europe ex UK index took a big hit, falling by 14.4pc, so Mr Burnett's fund did well to lose about half that at minus 7.6pc.
Mr Burnett has been increasing exposure to the telecoms sector during the past few months and it now makes up 20pc of his £960m portfolio. His strategy of avoiding cyclical companies is also shown by the allocation to energy falling from 7.2pc at the end of March to less than 1pc now.
