Terry Smith, chief executive of inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon, proved a point during 2011, as his global equity fund outperformed most of its rivals in the year to December 20, according to data from Morningstar.

Fundsmith Equity came fourth out of 228 global funds in the Morningstar database by producing 4.2% over the period. This compared to a mean loss for global funds of 12.3% and a fall of 8% in the FTSE global index. Performances are expressed in dollar terms.