Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Looking forward to improved relative performance

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) has been managed by Nick Train since the beginning of 2001 and in 2019 Madeline Wright was appointed as the trust’s deputy portfolio manager. Despite an impressive long-term record – during Train’s tenure to the end of 2023, FGT’s NAV generated a 9.0% annual total return versus the UK market’s 5.1% annual total return – there have now been three consecutive years of underperformance. The managers will continue to employ the long-term successful strategy of ru

Finsbury Growth & Income

FGT’s performance has been disappointing, but Nick Train is optimistic on prospects…

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Performance getting back on track

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) has been managed by Nick Train since the beginning of 2001. Data from the company show that since then to the end of March 2023, the fund has outperformed the broad UK market by 4.3pp per year. Having experienced a difficult relative performance period due to shifts in market leadership, FGT’s results are getting back on track. The manager emphasises that he has continued to adhere to his long-term strategy of investing in high-quality growth companies that c

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Confidence in long-term successful strategy

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) has been managed by Nick Train for more than two decades. The trust’s 2021 and 2022 underperformance should be put into perspective, as during his tenure, the manager has outperformed FGT’s UK benchmark in 18 out of 22 years. Train is adhering to his long-term strategy of investing in high-quality companies that can grow regardless of the economic cycle, have high returns and low capital intensity, and can generate strong cash flows to support dividend growth

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Hopeful for better relative UK market performance

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) is managed by Nick Train, one of the founding partners of boutique investment firm Lindsell Train. While he is disappointed by the fund’s underperformance over the last 18 months, the manager emphasises that when things improve, it will not be due to a change in strategy or in the top positions, which all have multi-year holding periods. Train believes that there is potential for a relative catch-up by UK stocks given their significant underperformance compar

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Optimistic on prospects for quality UK companies

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) is managed by Nick Train, one of the founding partners of boutique investment firm Lindsell Train. He is optimistic on the current outlook for UK equities, all the more so given several years of relative underperformance; in particular, the manager believes that global investors are underestimating the level of technological innovation within the UK corporate sector. While FGT’s relative performance has lagged that of its peers and the UK market in recent mon

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Sticking to the successful long-term strategy

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) is managed by Nick Train, one of the founding partners of boutique investment firm Lindsell Train. He is optimistic on the current outlook for UK equities, all the more so given several years of relative underperformance; in particular, the manager believes that global investors are underestimating the level of technological innovation within the UK corporate sector. While FGT’s relative performance has lagged that of its peers and the UK market in recent mon

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - ‘Perfectly rational to do nothing if you are unsure’

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) is celebrating its 20th anniversary under the management of Nick Train. While underperforming in recent months, the trust is ahead of the broad UK market over the last one, three, five and 10 years. Stock market volatility in 2020 afforded the manager an opportunity to add another new name to the fund, credit bureau Experian, which he considers a rare example of a globally significant UK company that is benefiting from the optimisation of its vast database. T

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - Another new addition to the fund – Fever-Tree

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) has been managed by Nick Train since January 2001. Given the economic uncertainty due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, he stresses the importance of determining which companies will survive and thrive, and which could ultimately fail. The manager also seeks to invest in firms that can take advantage of the upsurge in digital and software services, as technology is advancing at an accelerating pace. While Train rarely initiates new holdings in the fund, in rec

Children of the Revolution

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, but with March coming to a close we have perhaps seen the end of the first act. Most of the developed world is in various degrees of ‘lockdown’; anxiously watching poorly reported – and often poorly understood – numbers for indications that their government’s strategy is working. Meanwhile equity markets saw one of their worst ever quarters in Q1 2020, as whole swathes of the economy were shut down by government diktat. The speed with which the situation d

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - PZ Cussons is first new UK holding since 2010

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) has been managed by Nick Train since the beginning of 2001. He has a reputation for investing with a long-term view, willing to take the ups and downs in performance, primarily in consumer branded goods companies. However, the manager is keen to stress that FGT also has important holdings in other businesses with strong franchises and brands, whose shares may be more volatile. Of note, the trust’s three best-performing stocks in 2019 were not consumer goods c

Quality street: can the dominant style continue to outperform?

Quality as an investing style has outperformed significantly in recent years, and over the past 12 months especially so. After this kind of outperformance, it is natural to ask whether a trend is over-done and profits should be taken – and that is what we have done. When analysing the typical quality benchmarks, it quickly becomes apparent that these indices have significant industry and sector exposures, which could affect how they perform in the future and put them at risk of a down period. Bu

Dangerous ground:the perils of timing the market

Anyone who takes a strong interest in financial markets sometimes feels the pull of market timing. It is seductive to imagine yourself a canny trader, buying or selling positions just before the market shifts, trading investments daily and beating the herd with superior analysis and instincts. We can add to the existing research suggesting this is a bad idea, and that taking a long-term view of your investments is the way to go. We looked at investment trusts that have outperformed over the past

Report card Update

In January we introduced a new quantitative rating system for investment trusts. Our ratings look at NAV total return performance. They are, we believe, the first quantitative rating for closed-ended funds to do so and thereby capture the performance of the management team rather than the noisier share price movements. Our ratings aim to identify the top performers for capital growth and for income. We have designed the quants to identify those trusts which have added the greatest alpha to their

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust - A further step-up in performance

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT) has been managed by Nick Train since 2001. His strategy of running a highly concentrated portfolio (currently 20 names) – focused on just three business areas – has proved to be very successful, as illustrated in the 10-year relative NAV chart below. FGT has outperformed the FTSE All-Share Index over the last one, three, five and 10 years, helped by a recent step-up in capital appreciation, and has outpaced the performance of all of its larger-cap peers in th

Morning Note – 22 April 2024

Benefits of scale set to materialise

Frenkel Topping - Resilient with strong growth potential

FY 2023 was a challenging year for Frenkel with higher interest rates encouraging clients to place money into lower margin money market funds. Despite this, sales grew +32% (supported by recurring revenue +9% and +51% in non-recurring), EBIT margins remained strong at 22% and adj. EPS grew +17% (taking into account the higher number of shares). FY 2024 has seen a solid start to transactional business and there is a strong pipeline of new FUM opportunities both of which support further growth. Wi

S&U - PBT ahead, encouraging volume trends

S&U reported FY24 PBT of £33.6m, down from £41.4m in FY23 on higher funding and regulatory costs and higher impairments in Advantage in H2. PBT was 2% ahead of our forecast as stronger revenues – up 12% to £115.4m – and better costs offset higher-than-expected impairments. Net receivables grew to a record at both Advantage and Aspen and management noted particular strength in Q4 and a good trading environment in the current year. Having absorbed a significant rise in funding cost as well as addi

Hardman & Co Insight: 2023 was an annus horribilis for Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy

The focus of Hardman & Co Research is on the nine quoted Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and on the 22 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs): the stocks analysed are all members of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). We are updating our publication of January 2023, assessing both the lacklustre share price performances during 2023 and the key issues, including interest rates, inflation and power prices. As a 31-strong group, its combined market capitalisation is no

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – Fundamentals shine despite discount

The manger comments that, in common with the other trusts in the renewable energy sector, the last six months have continued what has been a challenging period for the Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF). It adds that the trust’s ongoing fundamental performance has failed to reverse a steady slide in its share price which began back in May 2023. Despite this, it says the company has continued to deliver solid NAV growth and market-leading shareholder distributions thanks to a range of contractual

Foresight Solar Fund - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on ABC Arbitrage (ABCA), paragon (PGN), Foresight Solar Fund (FSFL), Kendrion (KENDR), Lithium Power International (LPI), Triple Point Energy Transition (TENT), 4iG (4IG), e-therapeutics (ETX), Pharnext (ALPHA) and Shield Therapeutics (STX). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. Previously published reports can still be accessed via our web

Regional REIT - Performing as expected ahead of refinancing

In a challenging market, Regional REIT’s (RGL’s) FY23 operational and financial performance was robust, in line with expectations and previous guidance. Investor focus remains on the company’s loan to value (LTV) reduction and bond refinancing plans, explored in detail in our previous note and RGL will provide an update on this in due course.

LIBERUM: PayPoint: On track for £100m of EBITDA in FY 26

LIBERUM: Speedy Hire: Weakness in FY 24 but recovery in FY 25

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 22 April 2024

22nd April 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: Reverse Takeovers: 16 April 2024: Electric Guitar (ELEG.L) Concurrent with its Admission to trading on AIM, Electric Guitar is proposing to acquire the entire issued share capital of 3radi

International Public Partnerships - Consistently and responsibly delivering

International Public Partnerships’ (INPP’s) FY23 results show that it continues to deliver consistent and predictable returns for investors, while delivering environmental and social benefits for the individuals and communities that are served by its assets. Despite this strong performance and a substantial need for private infrastructure funding, the macroeconomic environment has weighed on INPP’s share price, in common with the wider sector. Regardless, attractive returns are available from th

Foxtons Group (FOXT LN) - 1Q24 IMS shows real momentum

Foxtons Group plc first quarter revenue rose 9% to £35.7m (1Q23: £32.9m) with growth delivered across all business segments. Trading is in line with management's expectations.

The Hardman & Co Monthly: April 2024

Feature article: Steady as she goes, but could be better: A review of investment company liquidity since 2016 Liquidity is the lifeblood of equity markets. The measurement of liquid asset availability to a market or company is a way of gauging a market’s health. This article builds on our previous work, which analysed the liquidity data for non-financial trading companies, by applying the same analytical techniques to the investment companies (IC) space. We analyse liquidity for ICs as a whol

H&T Group (HAT): Core franchise build, short-term retail noise

In our 15 March 2023 initiation, 'Pawnbroking royalty, with strong, profitable growth', and subsequent notes, we have highlighted the strong market for pawnbroking and why H&T, as the market leader, is uniquely placed to take advantage of these opportunities. These results reconfirmed both, with the pledge book up 28% and net pawnbroking revenue up 36%. Like many in the retail space, H&T faced the challenge of customers focusing on lower-value, lower-margin items in the key run-up to Christmas 2