The trust with the best run of dividend growth FUND FOCUS

ALTHOUGH its name may be off-putting to some who blame the banks for many of the economy’s problems of the past decade, Bankers is an investorfriendly trust.

Run by Alex Crooke of investment house Janus Henderson, the trust has 52 consecutive years of annual dividend increases under its belt and Crooke is in no mood to be the one who breaks the run.

The trust, internationally invested, is very much a favourite with private investors who like its reliable income and steady investment returns. Indeed, more than 100 of them will attend the trust’s annual general meeting in ten days’ time at Trinity House, overlooking London’s Tower of London.

‘It will be nice to chat with them and take their questions,’ says Crooke. ‘For many, our trust is a core holding because of its broad reach and, of course, the growing income. No investment trust has a longer dividend growth record than ours.’

In the trust’s last financial year – ending October 31 – it paid shareholders a total of 19.72p per share in dividends, an increase of just over six per cent on the year before. This is against a current share price of £8.58 and a dividend yield of 2.3 per cent. An added assurance for incomeorientated shareholders is that the trust has the equivalent of nearly two years of dividends tucked away in its reserves – income that can be drawn upon if the dividend environment gets tougher and companies start cutting them back.

Crooke’s management of the near £1billion trust is unusual. Unlike most other managers, his role is more akin to that of a conductor, parcelling out portions of the trust’s assets to the various investment desks at Janus Henderson to manage. His role, essentially, is to ensure the fund’s asset allocation across world stock markets and sectors is sufficiently diverse – and to arrange borrowing if he thinks its cost will be outweighed by the expected investment returns from employing it around the globe. Crooke adds: ‘As a general rule, I like to set up the portfolio so that the revenues generated by the companies the trust holds are split three ways – North America, emerging markets and finally Europe and the UK. The managers pick the stocks and I ensure the jigsaw pieces come together and make a good fit.’

Currently, the trust has exposure to nearly 200 companies with the biggest holdings being Microsoft and American Express.

In terms of overall performance, the trust has comfortably outperformed the FTSE All-Share Index over most time periods. Over five years, for example, Bankers has delivered a return of 67 per cent, compared to 31 per cent from the FTSE-All Share.

One additional investor-friendly feature of Bankers is that the ongoing annual charge Janus Henderson levies is a competitive 0.5 per cent, thereby ensuring little diminution of investor returns. ‘It’s great value for money,’ says Crooke.

Bankers is an ideal core holding for investors as a result of its broad exposure to stock markets, its income-friendliness and low charges. In terms of overall investment returns, it will not shout the lights out – and will experience short-term performance tribulations – but over the long term it is likely to enhance your wealth.

It is as reliable and stable an investment as you are likely to find – a point backed by the fact that over the last 47 years, only three managers have been at its helm. Crooke has reigned supreme since 2003 and isn’t going anywhere in a hurry yet.