Temple Bar makes Peter Lowery deputy manager – Temple Bar has announced results for the year ended 31 December 2018. The NAV total return was -11.2%, worse than the return on the All-Share Index which was -9.5%. The dividend has been hiked by 10%, emphasising Temple Bar’s AIC ‘dividend hero’ status.
Alastair Mundy has managed the Temple Bar portfolio for many years. The board believes that it is now appropriate to appoint Peter Lowery as the company’s deputy portfolio manager with immediate effect. Peter joined Investec Asset Management in 2003 and has worked closely with Alastair on matters related to Temple Bar ever since.
Change of investment objective and policy
The board is seeking shareholder approval at the AGM to amend the company’s investment objectives and policy to bar tobacco stocks from the portfolio. It says: “where an investee company poses
challenging issues on an ethical or governance front, the manager will engage with company management over the long haul to improve the situation. In addition, the board is actively considering whether there are some stocks whose very business model is inherently unethical, even when legal, and whether the trust should seek to profit from opportunities offered in such areas. These are
stocks whose product is both harmful to humans and addictive in nature, undermining the autonomous choice of the consumer to decide if he/she wishes to harm him/herself in this manner, and the product offers no significant benefit to consumer welfare to justify the harm. Clearly, which stocks fall foul of these criteria can change over time. At present this approach would lead to the exclusion of tobacco stocks from portfolio construction.”
TMPL : Temple Bar makes Peter Lowery deputy manager