axel27
13 May 2015
Re: Divi Reinvestment PedrodeSeems so. I have had words with an F&C compliance gentleman a while back.Axel jnr Child Trust Fund with F&C had 4 shares bought at 449.5 on 5th May by F&C by his financial manager (F&C).. But that includes stamp duty, so 447.5 per share - no idea what the broker charged for commission or even if one was involved. - F&C Inv Trust plc is buying shares and holding them in treasury to be sold for at least a premium. One hopes that folks like Axel jnr as a shareholder of F&C Inv Trust, and with his money managed by F&C would get a great deal and not too many financial intermediaries would skim..... The mid market price on 5th May according to the chart was 441 - so yup someone has skimmed (as well as the Government stamp)....A
Pedrode2000
13 May 2015
Divi Reinvestment It's amazing how F&C's timing gets it just right so that reinvestment of my Divi and monthly subscription are at top of the market - £4.47 & £4.50 this month! Is this the same for all the 'small people'?
Pedrode2000
15 Apr 2015
Re: Divi 2015-16 I agree SH - it is very frustrating that such a discount is applied to FRCL and hard to understand - I am assuming it is because market sentiment does not have that much faith in the prospects for FRCL. Although this must have changed when the discount narrowed but is now back to 8-10%? There are many trusts that trade at a premium - e.g Scottish Mortgage - I assume this is driven by demand as a result of future performance expectations. The trick must be to sell when the discount narrows.
stout-hart
15 Apr 2015
Re: Divi 2015-16 SBGWhilst its lovely to have this dialogue with you, I think you have missed my point. I was comparing the performance of Witan with FRCL. Witan is a similar IT (albeit smaller) and they trade without a discount, which FRCL did for a while, but have reverted. The SP has not dropped by 10%, but nor has it reflected the rise in NAV. This doesn't matter much if you are continuing to invest, but the market view of the two ITs obviously is that Witan's investment strategy is stronger than FRCLs and is expecting returns to be higher. I don't believe that is a satisfactory position for existing investors in FRCL - although we should be glad we are not Alliance !As for the point about buy-backs - in the six years between 1/1/08 - 31/12/13 - FRCL has bought back and cancelled 20% of its shares by volume. Why ? because each 90p was converted into £1 of shareholder value and reduced the pool of shares for dividend payout i.e. the earnings were divided by a smaller number of shares hence a rising dividend payout. You would do that when a) the discount was high and b) when you couldn't earn the same return in the market. The rise in NAV seems to support a decision not to buy back shares, however the market judgement is that over time the asset base will not perform as well as e.g. Witan's will.So - in short - I am concerned at the total return figures projected for the future - not the actual numbers, because no-one knows those - as evidenced by the market view (and the better view it has of Witan). The managers need to do something to either boost that performance or improve the view given to market makers/analysts. IMHOAs we are at the risk of boring other readers, I will say no more on this subject.
sportbillygoat
15 Apr 2015
Re: Divi 2015-16 Stout-hartHave to confess I don't watch the discount that closely to be aware of the swing that took place. The share price hasn't fallen by 10% of the last few weeks, so that would suggest that the discount has emerged due to an increase in NAV. Reason to be cheerful, surely?In terms of buybacks to reduce the discount, wouldn't dumping cash to buy shares - the cash raised either through raising debt, or disposal of assets - simply reduce the NAV, leaving those who do watch the discount to sell shares on the basis that the NAV was lower.If the market thinks FRCL should be priced at 10% less than the value of it's assets, then that is what the shares will be priced at, whether the underlying assets' value moves up or down. Is there any point in measures that will move the NAV down, if that's the case?
stout-hart
13 Apr 2015
Re: Divi 2015-16 SBGI agree with you about the advantage of buying shares in an IT with a discount of 10% to the underlying NAV. My point was, the discount (which has historically been 8-10%) had narrowed to almost zero by a combination of manager buy backs, better investment performance and presumably a more positive market assessment of the value of that performance. It is the reasons for the reversal of that position, in such a short time, that I find worrying. In the same time frame, the discount with Witan remains near zero.That means that the relative performance of FRCL v WTN over the last 6-8 weeks has been abysmal; and for no obvious reason. I am not planning on cashing out just yet - perhaps in 2 years time, so from that point of view - the higher the discount the better whilst I continue to buy shares - but if the higher discount is a result of market perception of current and anticipated poor comparative performance - that does not look good for the mid term future.I would like the managers to adopt a positive policy of restricting the discount to no more than 5% (or less). Buys backs at this level would at least guarantee leveraged returns of 10% +
sportbillygoat
13 Apr 2015
Re: Divi 2015-16 StoutIt is a curious thing that some trusts run a much higher discount than others. 10% at the moment according to bloomberg, against a longer term average of 8.6%. This obviously demonstrates that share price can move against NAV performance depending on the wiles of the market.I suppose one interpretation may be that the jump in share price last year has lead to some profit taking on FRCL shares, meanwhile the assets that FRCL are invested in have continued to perform.To some extent if I can by shares at a 10% discount rather than par, I'm happy. The dividend is 10% higher too. Although I can see it would be frustrating if you wanted to cash out.Speaking of which the changes allowing Child Trust Funds to be converted and transferred to Junior ISAs will benefit the holdings I have for my kids. F&C's £25 management fee is too much for the sums value held in the CTFs. And since one can hold FRCL shares in any old ISA, I'm off to Youinvest; No ISA management fee and a good range of shares and funds.SBG
stout-hart
31 Mar 2015
Re: Divi 2015-16 I'm sure its been pointed out before, but if you click on Fundamentals (under the Analysis tab) it gives you all the dates for dividends. Next one (final) due to be paid 1/5/15 - ex-dividend now past Mar 27.A more relevant question would be - why has the discount gone back to 8% ??
ALLOTMENT13
05 Mar 2015
Divi 2015-16 Does anyone know when they will announce the divi for the next yr.
II Editor
03 Mar 2015
NEW ARTICLE: 10 investment trusts that have increased dividend payouts for 40 years-plus "In the latest list of investment trust Dividend Heroes released by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), nine trusts now have a record of 40-plus consecutive years of dividend growth; a further name, LSE:ATST:Alliance Trust, is likely to ..."[link]
Stepenwolf
04 Feb 2015
Re: F&C v Witan Same here and yes seems like a great decision after all.
Boxford immigrant
03 Feb 2015
Re: F&C v Witan I have always saved a monthly amount in this trust. If I had put all my investments over the years in it I would be very happy! Well done F and C Inv Trust.
Stepenwolf
03 Feb 2015
Re: F&C v Witan I guess the F&C IT has been around for over 100 years for a reason - great return to form,
stout-hart
03 Feb 2015
Re: F&C v Witan 9 months ago, I posted a very critical set of comments, particularly related to the high discount against NAV and the relative performance compared to Witan IT. I'm sure it's wasn't my comment that triggered the change in fortunes, but credit where it's due. The discount has narrowed considerably (less than 2% today I think) and F&C overshadowed Witan by 6% for 2014. Total return was a creditable 26% (according to Trustnet), so we'll done to the managers. More of the same please!
II Editor
22 Dec 2014
NEW ARTICLE: European recovery to stay on track in 2015 "In the UK and the US, the debate has now moved to the pace of recovery from the post-crash recession; in Europe, the issue is more whether the region can convincingly claw its way out of the slump. The economic signs are not encouraging.The euro ..."[link]
