Murray International (MYI), the £2.2bn investment trust flagship run by Aberdeen, delivered a 10.5% investment return in the first half of the year with shareholders receiving 9.9% as the shares saw their premium over net asset value dip to 2.4% from 3%. Although the half-year result underperformed the 12.4% increase in the MSCI ACWI High Dividend Yield index in the six months to 30 June, in the previous financial year they strongly outperformed with 21.9% growth in net asset value (NAV). The shares have continued to rise and over one year the trust leads the AIC Global Equity Income sector with a total 32.8% return. This performance includes dividends with the 3.4%-yielder making two payments of 2.8p per share in the half-year period. Fund managers Martin Connaghan and Samantha Fitzpatrick made their biggest gains in their technology stock picks such as Samsung Electronics, BE Semiconductor, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Cisco Systems, but saw their biggest falls in CME Group, Infosys, Ping An Insurance and Taylor Wimpey. They started new positions in: Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset management firm; Pfizer, the US drugs giant; Union Pacific, a leading US infrastructure firm; Fastenal, a global wholesale distributor of industrial and construction supplies; and ONEOK, a North American energy infrastructure company. Chair Virginia Holmes said: “The outlook for global equity markets remains broadly positive, supported by resilient economic growth, albeit periods of volatility are to be expected.”
Richard Williams, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “Despite lagging its benchmark over the first half, Murray’s 10.5% NAV total return is a respectable absolute outcome in a period dominated by AI-related technology stocks, and its longer-term record of outperforming the benchmark remains intact. The ability to continue issuing shares at a premium underlines healthy investor demand for its strategy. MYI saw the managers trim some of the portfolio’s strongest-performing semiconductor holdings during the period as valuations became harder to justify, while recycling capital into higher-yielding names. With markets increasingly concentrated in a handful of AI winners, the portfolio’s diversified, valuation-conscious approach should offer greater resilience if markets broaden or sentiment towards expensive technology stocks cools.”
The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) expects to continue buying back its shares currently trading at a 25% discount once its £150m buyback programme expires. “While the share price discount to NAV [net asset value] has narrowed in the first half of the year, it remains elevated, and we continue to take action to support a sustainable share price recovery,” said TRIG in interim results that were largely pre-announced in last month’s trading update. The £1.8bn investment company has bought back £123m of shares and recently sold its 17.5% stake in the Beatrice offshore wind farm for £155m as part of plans to raise £400m mostly through disposals in the 12 months to May 2027.
Onward Opportunities (ONWD), the £42m UK smaller companies trust run by Laurence Hulse at Dowgate Wealth, has suffered its worst first half since launch over three years ago with net asset value falling 14.1% and its shares sliding 15.9% in the six months to 30 June. Half-year results show the company saw its holdings heavily sold off after the outbreak of war in the Middle East in late February and lag the subsequent second quarter rally, although only two of its companies went on to issue profit warnings. Since listing in March 2023, the company has generated a total return of 24.5% for shareholders, ahead of the 0.9% rise in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the junior UK exchange in which it mostly invests. Hulse said there were plenty of value opportunities in this part of the market. “We have a number of investments where despite profits growing by double digits, share prices have declined by double digits. In one extreme example, profits are doubling but the shares have almost halved in value. This is why we are looking onward”, he said.
