MacPhee had run the portfolio for over 15 years, focusing on growing companies around the globe, with a stable and rising level of income. It had been a successful strategy over time. The trust is up 134.8% over five years, compared to an average rise in AIC Global sector of 89.8%. However, some of that rise had come from a narrowing of the discount. The NAV rise over the period was more modest at 96.1%.
More recent performance had been weaker with the trust lagging its peer group over three years. However, in its most recent set of results, it saw a rise in net asset value of 1.3% compared to a return of 0.7% from the benchmark FTSE World index.
The management of the trust will pass to the Artemis Global Select team of Simon Edelsten, Alex Illingworth and Rosanna Burcheri. The team's open-ended £44.8m Global Select fund has been running since June 2011. it has outperformed the wider IMA Global sector since launch, but is currently fourth quartile over one year. The team run around $600m in the wider strategy.
The management of the trust will move across on 1 May. The commercial terms are largely unchanged, with the management fee remaining at 0.5%. However, the notice period has reduced from 12 to 6 months. The discount mechanism will remain in place. This aims to limit the discount to no more than 2% of NAV.
The Artemis team will use a similar style, focusing on a concentrated portfolio of high quality companies benefiting from stable growth trends. The team is conviction-led and takes a bottom-up, stockpicking approach.
Artemis currently only has one other investment trust – the Artemis Alpha fund run by John Dodd and Adrian Patterson. The trust is currently fourth quartile in the AIC UK All Companies sector over one and three years.
