Alastair Mundy’s former Temple Bar Investment Trust has dropped out of the FTSE 250 in the latest quarterly rebalance, which sees the Baillie Gifford US Growth trust and music royalties investment trust Hipgnosis catapulted into the index.
Global index provider FTSE Russell revealed at close of trading on Wednesday that Temple Bar and eight other companies had been ejected from the list of Britain’s 250 largest constituents.
It was joined by Irn-Bru maker AG Barr, which counts Lindsell Train among its largest shareholders with a 14% stake, as well as property developer Hammerson, outsourcing firm Equiniti and Park Plaza owner PPHE Hotel Group.
Temple Bar has been badly bruised during the coronavirus crisis, racking up losses of 49% so far this year compared with the IT UK Equity Income sector’s losses of 24%. Shares in the investment company have halved in the year-to-date and its market value has plunged to £462.1m. It trades on an 11% discount
Temple Bar board close to unveiling Alistair Mundy’s successor
The value orientated trust has been in a state of limbo following the announcement that portfolio manager Mundy (pictured) was taking an extended leave of absence due to ill health.
Mundy was replaced by fellow Ninety One global value managers Alessandro Dicorrado and Steve Woolley but on 20 April Temple Bar’s board served the fund group with a 12-month protective termination notice and said it would be conducting a review of future management arrangements. Ninety One has thrown its hat in the ring to be re-appointed.
On Wednesday the board of the floundering UK equity income trust announced it would be unveiling a new manager imminently along with the publication of its interim results.
“As stated in previous announcements on 20 April and 9 June 2020, the board of Temple Bar has instigated a review of its investment management arrangements.
“It is anticipated that this review will be completed shortly, and the publication of the interim results has been delayed in order to publish the results of the review and the interim results together. The interim results will therefore be published in due course.”
Baillie Gifford US Growth trust ascends to FTSE 250
Replacing Mundy’s former trust is the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust, which launched just over two years ago.
Run jointly by Gary Robinson and Helen Xiong, the trust has seen its market cap surge to £696.6m as its large holdings in disruptors like Tesla, Shopify and Amazon saw their share prices take off amid the virus crisis.
Final results for the trust published on Thursday reveal its share price and net asset value returned 46.5% and 44.2% respectively for the year ended 31 May 2020, trouncing the S&P 500 which returned 15.0% in sterling terms.
Shares in the trust are up 80% year-to-date and over the last year it has returned 76.3% versus the IT North America’s gains of 74.5%.
Other newcomers to the FTSE 250 include the JP Morgan European Smaller Companies Trust, CMC Markets, Diversified Gas & Oil and Guernsey music IP investment group Hipgnosis.
ITV, which has seen 57% shaved of its share price this year, was relegated from the FTSE 100 into the FTSE 250.
