Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust - Still going strong after 150 years

Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust (FRCL) is the world’s oldest investment trust and has a distinguished dividend history. The fund is on course for its 48th consecutive year of dividend increases and an annual distribution has been paid in each of the 150 years since FRCL was launched in 1868. Paul Niven has managed the trust since 2014 and has continued to build on FRCL’s long-term record of outperformance versus its benchmark. Helped by another period of good relative performance in H118, the trust’s share price total return has now outperformed the FTSE All-World index total return over the last one, three, five and 10 years. Although equities have performed well in recent years, the manager believes there is potential for further upside, supported by corporate earnings growth.