A buoyant July gave way to a more sombre August for Finsbury Growth & Income, which saw its share price taper back 1.4% after jumping nearly 11% the previous month.
The £1.9bn trust’s net asset value dropped 2.5%, outperformed by the FTSE All-Share which returned -1.7%. FGT is currently trading on a 4.2% discount.
Manager Nick Train (pictured) said: “In general, price moves across the UK in August suggest investors are increasingly pessimistic. I have to say, speaking to and closely following the companies in which we are invested makes us feel this general pessimism is excessive. But after such a long period of disappointing returns for the UK stock market, we understand why investors are impatient.”
The latest factsheet saw Train highlight the performance of three companies; London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Sage Group and Cazoo – the latter being the only one not listed among the trust’s top 10 holdings.
For LSEG, he flagged a 30% dividend increase and “strategically intriguing joint venture with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, developing a currency matching venue there to serve the whole Asian region”.
When it came to Sage, Train pointed to recent takeover bids for other members “of the already small and dwindling band of quoted UK technology companies”, which would leave Sage as one of the few such companies left in the FTSE 100.
“We sincerely hope the thoughtful and, in some ways, bold strategy of Sage’s current management continues to meet or exceed expectations and that its shares finally break up and out of the long trading range that is still capped by its peak in 2000.”
Online car retailer Cazoo delivered “better than feared” results in early August, Train said, which “sparked a big rally in its very depressed share price”.
“That fall had rendered Cazoo an immaterial position in the portfolio—one that was inherited earlier this year from the break-up of Daily Mail and General Trust. Still, it’d be nice to get the buy/sell or hold decision right on this asset.
“It is lossmaking, but has significant cash resources and, in theory, an enormous opportunity. We are thinking hard,” Train added.
| Diageo | 12.2% |
| RELX | 11.9% |
| London Stock Exchange Group | 10.9% |
| Mondelez Int. | 9.4% |
| Unilever | 8.8% |
| Burberry Group | 7.4% |
| Schroders | 6.6% |
| Sage Group | 6.1% |
| Remy Cointreau | 6.0% |
| Experian | 5.5% |
Source: Top 10 FGT holdings, August 2022 factsheet
