This trusts invests largely in established UK companies, with up to 20% of the capital invested in overseas shares.
The company’s investment policy is to invest principally in the securities of companies either listed in the UK or otherwise incorporated, domiciled or having significant business operations within the UK, whilst up to a maximum of 20% of the company’s portfolio, at the time of acquisition, can be invested in companies not meeting this criteria.
Nick’s approach is based on that of Warren Buffett’s and involves building a concentrated portfolio of “quality” companies that have strong brands and/or powerful market franchises. The bulk of these are UK companies. This leads to a very different portfolio when compared to the benchmark FTSE All-Share Index.
| Top 10 | ||
|---|---|---|
| London Stock Exchange | Financials | 11.5 |
| Unilever | Consumer Goods | 10.7 |
| Diageo | Consumer Goods | 9.9 |
| Mondelez Int. | Consumer Goods | 9.3 |
| RELX | Consumer Services | 9.1 |
| Schroders | Financials | 7.1 |
| Burberry Group | Consumer Goods | 6.2 |
| Sage Group | Technology | 6.1 |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | Financials | 6.0 |
| Remy Cointreau | Consumer Goods | 5.2 |
| Total | 81.1 |
Exert:
While the UK market has been largely out of favour with many investors since the Brexit vote, Train insists he is never short of investment ideas in the region. “The UK has been a wonderful place for investors. We have an innovative, shareholder-focused society.” He insists that many UK companies are comparable with others around the world but are being discounted for their London-listing.
Of course, the trust has not been immune from this year’s volatility; it is down by 11.23% year to date in share price terms, but that’s considerably better than its benchmark, the FTSE All-Share, which is down 22.38% over the same period. And over the long-term the trust has excelled, delivering annualised returns of 13.5% over 10 years, compared with 5.92% from the benchmark.