Key Takeaways
- Nearly 98% of votes were cast in favor of continuing the trust in its present form, but fewer than 40% of investors voted.
- The manager, Nick Train, has beaten the benchmark comfortably over 25 years but failed to do so over the last five.
- The investment trust was downgraded in 2019 and 2024 by Morningstar.
Nick Train, the manager of the £980 million Finsbury Growth and Income FGT investment trust for more than 25 years, received an overwhelming backing by shareholders in a vital vote this week.
At the trust’s annual general meeting on Jan. 16, 41.5 million votes were cast “to approve the company continuation in its present form as an investment trust”. This was a near 98% vote in favor, although the voter turnout was less than 40%.
While not technically a direct vote on the manager’s performance, the vote was a “a clear litmus test for investor faith in the strategy”, Daniel Haydon, a fund analyst at Morningstar, said. A vote against could have led to the trust’s investment firm, Lindsell Train, losing the mandate to run the vehicle.
The manager went into the AGM after failing to beat the benchmark in 2025 for the fifth year in a row. Nick Train has made multiple public apologies for this underperformance, including at this week’s shareholder meeting when he said his recent record was “terrible”.
Finsbury Growth and Income: Five-Year Versus 15-Year Performance
In 2025, Bronze-rated Finsbury Growth and Income saw its net asset value per share fall 7.6% and its share price lose 6%. The fund’s benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index, rose 24% over the year, and has reached a cumulative gain of 73.9% over the past five years net of reinvested dividends. In contrast, the trust has seen cumulative NAV growth of 11%, and a share price growth of 4.9% over the past five years.
Over 25 years, the trust under Train’s stewardship has achieved a benchmark-beating cumulative return of 628% in NAV terms, and 706% in share price terms.
The trust had a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold but was downgraded to Silver in December 2019 and Bronze in 2024.
Morningstar’s Haydon says Finsbury Growth & Income benefits from a veteran fund manager who has followed a well-defined investment philosophy for essentially his whole career, which is sound and has historically delivered.
“Recent performance has been underwhelming, however, and there have been some notable single stock upsets. Concentration has not been rewarded recently.
“While some of the underperformance is attributable to the quality growth style, there have also been some stock-specific disappointments, most notably at Diageo and Burberry. This run of poor relative returns has led to appropriate levels of challenge from the board.”
Nick Train Apologizes, Sticks With Investment Strategy
While underperformance remains an issue, Train has maintained conviction in his strategy, and kept the support of the trust’s board.
Investors might be hoping to see changes to the portfolio to effect a turnaround, but Train says there are no plans to change the portfolio in the near future.
In the December 2025 fund fact sheet, he wrote: “We made no change to the portfolio weightings in your company in December, nor any disposals or additions of holdings and, what is more, there are none imminent.
“This means that investors, doubtless as bitterly disappointed by last year’s performance as me, must decide whether the current portfolio constituents are going to continue to perform poorly into the New Year and beyond, or if 2026 will bring some respite. In other words, if performance is to improve, it is unlikely to be because of any market change to the current portfolio, but because the current portfolio constituents begin to do better.
“Of course, I tend to the latter view—that the portfolio has the potential to perform much better. I believe it is comprised of excellent businesses, with great brands or franchises and, if the companies can execute on their growth opportunities, their share prices should follow.”
The trust holds 20 companies, including London Stock Exchange Group LSEG, Burberry BRBY, and Unilever ULVR. It trades at a 5.4% discount to its NAV. Some 86.7% of the portfolio is concentrated in its largest 10 companies, of which Sage Group SGE is the largest holding, accounting for 12% of the total portfolio.
