Finsbury Growth & Income Trust plc (LON:FGT) has announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 31 March 2026.
Highlights
Finsbury Growth & Income: Enhancing Dividends, Increasing Gearing and a Portfolio Poised for Rerating
The Company received strong shareholder support at January’s AGM, with over 97% voting in favour of the continuation vote an endorsement the Board warmly welcomes. While mindful of recent performance, the Board will keep under review the need for any further continuation vote, guided by performance and market conditions rather than a fixed timetable. In the meantime, the Board is taking three measures to better utilise the investment trust structure and enhance shareholder returns.
- Enhanced Dividends: Following a thorough review, the Board has adopted an enhanced dividend policy effective from 1 October 2026, under which the annual dividend will increase by at least 50% from approximately 20 pence to 30 pence per share raising the current yield from around 2.6% to 3.9%. Going forward, the dividend will be set on a pence per share basis rather than by reference to NAV or share price, providing shareholders with greater clarity and certainty over their income.
Dividend payments will move to a quarterly schedule in February, May, August and November, reflecting the Board’s commitment to delivering a sustainable and growing income stream over the long term.
- Increased Gearing: The Board are aiming to fully deploy its £100m borrowing facility, having previously kept gearing modest at £29.2 million. This reflects the Board’s conviction that UK equity valuations are currently particularly attractive and that long-term equity returns should exceed the cost of debt.
- Reduced Management Fees: As previously reported the Board agreed revisions to the management fee arrangements in December 2025, delivering cost saving for Shareholders with effect from 1 January 2026. The revised structure delivered an immediate cost saving of £129,000 in the 3 months to 31 March 2026. Since the appointment of Lindsell Train in 2000, management fees have been regularly reviewed and stepped down with increased fund size providing economies of scale for Shareholders.
Chairman’s Statement
Pars Purewal, Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Chairman
“While recent performance has been disappointing, we are seeing early signs of stabilisation and remain firmly committed to the Portfolio Manager’s disciplined, long-term approach focused on high quality businesses with resilient franchises and hard-to-replicate data assets, where we believe AI will prove an enhancer of value rather than a threat. Against a backdrop of compelling UK valuations, our confidence in the Company’s prospects is growing, and the Board remains committed to doing whatever it takes to improve shareholder outcomes through disciplined investing, active balance sheet management, an enhanced dividend policy and careful discount management.”
Nick Train, Portfolio Manager, Lindsell Train Limited
“Writing this report reinforces our conviction that your portfolio is comprised of a collection of outstanding, in most cases world-class, UK-listed companies that have, for a variety of reasons, fallen out of favour with investors. In particular, we believe that the sell-off in London-listed data, software and platform companies could offer a once-in-a decade opportunity to access exceptional growth assets at fundamentally the wrong price.
“This really should be an opportunity to utilise the special powers of an investment trust to create additional value for its shareholders.”
