Financial services group Hargreaves Lansdown has removed two BlackRock UK funds from its Wealth 150 fund buy-list.

The BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha and UK Dynamic funds have both been removed from the Wealth 150, the company's list of preferred funds.

Both funds are managed by fund manager Mark Lyttleton.

Rob Morgan, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said both funds had performed strongly in the past, they had both underperformed more recently.

He said, 'This has partly been down to a bias towards larger companies during a period when smaller and medium-sized companies fared better.

'However, our analysis also suggests Mark Lyttleton's stock selection, previously a driver of performance, has deteriorated.'

He added, 'We believe Mark Lyttleton is a talented manager with the ability to improve performance.

'However we would like to see a sustained improvement in stock selection before reconsidering the fund for the Wealth 150, which is reserved for what we consider to be the best funds in each sector for new investments.'

Morgan said investors should continue holding the funds in the meantime but would notify them if this changed.

The move comes after the removal of the Allianz RCM BRIC Stars fund managed by Michael Konstantinov earlier this week.

Tony Stenning, head of BlackRock’s UK retail business, said, 'BlackRock's UK Dynamic and UK Absolute Alpha funds have delivered excellent returns for investors over the long term.

'Since launch, the BlackRock UK Dynamic fund is first quartile and has returned 64.7 per cent versus the sector return of 25.9 per cent.

'The fund has been first quartile five of the eight years under Mark Lyttleton's management. The BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha fund has returned 48.9 per cent since its launch in 2005 navigating well through turbulent market conditions during the credit crisis.

'We remain committed to generating alpha on behalf of our clients and believe that the portfolios are well positioned to take advantage of market conditions in the coming months.'

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