Rathbone Income’s long-term payout track record is impressive, with year-on-year distribution increases for 23 of the 24 years to end 2016.
Manager Carl Stick has run the fund since 2000 and he has been remarkably consistent in his ability to find the high-quality earners.
He has a multi-cap remit, which has also allowed him to access some promising opportunities in the mid-cap space.
Schroder Income is more heavily weighted to large caps, but with its value-driven process, it still tends to look outside the mainstream UK income-generating securities.
Managers Nick Kirrage and Kevin Murphy believe the “only way” to beat inflation is by investing in companies that can grow sustainable dividends, and although their style bias can make them more volatile than some of their income peers, the fund’s total returns have outperformed over the long term.
And ultimately, that is what investors really care about.
