Finsbury Growth & Income Trust

It has been a difficult few years for the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust, which has lagged behind its FTSE All-Share benchmark in each of the last four accounting periods. Manager Nick Train is highly regarded and even though his long-term record is still excellent, it has been announced that there will be a continuation vote in January 2026.¹ 

A decision like this could be seen as a lack of commitment from the Board, but they have said that they fully support the manager’s strategy. The institutional shareholders are also inclined to carry on, as is Train himself, who has continued to buy more shares and now owns 3.5% of the company in his own right.² 

Objective and approach 

The Finsbury Growth & Income Trust aims to provide shareholders with a total return in excess of that of the FTSE All-Share index. Train has a bottom-up stock picking approach that he uses to identify high quality companies with durable and cash generative franchises, which are then held for the long-term. 

The trust has a concentrated portfolio of his highest conviction ideas and can invest up to a fifth of the assets in quoted companies outside of the UK. When these sorts of large positions pay off, the impact on performance can be significant and the Board thinks that it is only a matter of time before the fund resumes its excellent long-term record.³

The underlying portfolio

At the end of December the trust had just 22 holdings with the ten largest positions accounting for an incredible 92% of the assets. These included well-known names such as: The London Stock Exchange Group, Sage, RELX, Experian, Unilever and Diageo. 

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust top-10 holdings

1. London Stock Exchange 
2. RELX
3. Sage Group
4. Unilever
5. Experian
6. Diageo
7. Rightmove
8. Hargreaves Lansdown
9. Schroders
10. Burberry Group

Source: Finsbury Growth & Income Trust factsheet, 31 December 2024

The sector weightings are also unusual with Consumer Staples, Financials and Consumer Discretionary each making up about a quarter of the fund, while Industrials and Technology account for the rest. This means that there are some areas of the market that are not represented at all.⁴

Finsbury Growth & Income is known for its low turnover, so the recent addition of two new names to the portfolio was quite a rare event. The first, Clarkson, is the world's premier ship broking company and could benefit from the growth of global trade, while the international testing and assurance business, Intertek, is well placed to profit from the ever-increasing budren of regulation.  

Performance

The last five years have been particularly disappointing for investors with a cumulative share price return of just 10.9% compared to 26.5% from the index. However, the longer-term numbers tell a very different story.⁵ 

Important information - investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. Overseas investments will be affected by movements in currency exchange rates. Reference to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities and is included for the purposes of illustration only. Shares in the Finsbury Growth & Income Trust are listed on the London Stock Exchange and their price is affected by supply and demand. The trust can gain additional exposure to the market, known as gearing, potentially increasing volatility. The trust invests in a relatively small number of companies and so may carry more risk than funds that are more diversified. This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of   Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice.