David Holder: I'm here this morning to talk about a recent Morningstar Analyst upgrade for Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust (FRCL). Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust is the oldest investment trust having been launched in 1868 and aims to grow capital income over the longer term. Indeed, it has a recent record of 46 years of dividend increases which is particularly impressive.
The fund aims to be a core building block for investors and overwhelmingly the investor base is retail. So, individual investors investing either on behalf of themselves or perhaps children or grandchildren for long-term savings. The Trust is managed by Paul Niven since July 2014. Paul is Head of Asset Allocation and Portfolio Implementation at BMO or F&C and his skillset is particularly well placed for this type of mandate in that he is, if you like, the manager of the team selecting individual players. He looks at strategies, he looks at the underlying stocks that they hold. And he really sets in place the overall allocation and the strategy for the Trust.
The Trust also has a board of eight which is quite a large board and encompasses some very deep investment knowledgeable people such as Sarah Arkle, previous CIO with Threadneedle and Simon Fraser, CIO at Fidelity. So, there's an awful lot of thought process that goes into this particular Trust. And to boot, the Trust's charges at around 80 basis points are pretty competitive.
So, all-in-all, we think there's an awful lot to be said for this Trust. The manager is proven in what he does. There's a very long and extensive track record that he can provide. And overall, we think it is well deserving of an upgrade from Bronze to Silver.