Christian Mayes, Portfolio Adviser, 3 July 2025:
The £931m Murray Income Trust has launched a strategic review of the trust after the discount slipped into double digits.
In a stock exchange announcement, the board said it had initiated the review to find a way of delivering improved performance and returns for its shareholders.
The UK equity-focused portfolio currently trades at a 10.3% discount, according to the AIC..
James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said the discount is “too wide” for a predominantly large cap UK equity portfolio.
“Murray Income has had a poor run of performance, ranking last in its 18-strong peer group over 12 months – over 20 percentage points behind the sector-leader, Temple Bar – and fourth quartile over three and five years.
“In last year’s annual report, there was no criticism of the trust’s performance by the board. In the last interim report, there was an acknowledgement that the trust’s focus on quality was not in favour and that there had been some ‘mistakes’ in stock selection, but no indication of a sense of frustration with the manager – hence my surprise at the announcement of the review.
“Six trusts are trading close to NAV or at a premium, including Temple Bar, Law Debenture, and City of London. Aberdeen Equity Income is also in this list and does have a much better track record than Murray Income, it could be a contender, but it is a lot smaller than the others.”
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