The pair, Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh of UK fund manager Liontrust, made 4.79% from the start of Tuesday to the end of Thursday this week - a short week in the UK, as a result of a public holiday on Monday. The average fund in their area, the UK smaller companies trust sector, made 0.7% this week, according to data provider Financial Express, while the FTSE small cap index made 1.64%.

The £66m (€79.5m) fund's aim is "to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in smaller UK companies displaying a high degree of intellectual capital and employee motivation through equity ownership in their business model," according to its literature. It tries to identify businesses with strengths that others would find difficult to reproduce.