Trustnet Magazine Issue 13 December 2015 | Page 15
TRUST
THE BANKERS
INVESTMENT TRUST
This trust has a strong record of downside
protection and has raised its dividend in each of
the past 48 years
T
he Bankers Investment
Trust, managed by Alex
Crooke since 2003, holds a
global portfolio of stocks with the
aim of targeting long term growth
in excess of the FTSE All Share.
It has easily surpassed this aim
over one, three, five and 10 years,
making 148.35 per cent over the
past decade compared with 80.86
per cent from its benchmark.
Crooke has done a good job of
guiding the trust through down
markets – it was a top-quartile
performer during the financial
crisis of 2008 and its losses
during the “taper tantrum” of
2013 were less than half those of
its peers.
Bankers has also managed to
raise its dividend in every one of
the past 48 years, making it the
trust with the second-longest
track record of consecutive
increases in the AIC universe –
the City of London Investment
Trust is first with 49 years.
Crooke strives to keep the
portfolio as well diversified as
possible in terms of sectors and
regions – its largest weighting
is currently to the UK at 34 per
cent, followed by North America
at 23.22 per cent and Europe at
12.22 per cent. It has smaller
weightings to the Asia Pacific,
Japan and global emerging
markets.
Not all the investments in the
trust are made in sterling, so it
is worth considering fluctuations
in exchange rates and the effect
these could have on its share
price and dividend payments.
The trust can invest across
the entire market cap spectrum,
giving Crooke greater freedom;
however, cautious investors
attracted to the trust for its
downside protection should bear
in mind this means it can invest in
smaller companies, which tend to
be more volatile and can become
difficult to sell out of.
Crooke says: “We’re an income
and growth trust so we try to
buy stocks that fill that objective
– we buy companies that have
consistently grown their dividends
over time so we therefore look at
cash-flow as a prime objective.”
The manager adopts a valuebased approach, meaning he
pays close attention to the price
of stocks to ensure that he is not
paying over the odds for the level
of growth they provide.
The Bankers Investment Trust is
trading on a 0.5 per cent discount,
is 3 per cent geared and currently
yields 2.4 per cent.
It has an ongoing charges figure
of 0.48 per cent.
PERFORMANCE OF TRUST VS SECTOR
AND INDEX OVER 10YRS
175%
Henderson - The Bankers Investment Trust (148.35%)
IT Global (95.78%)
FTSE All Share (80.86%)
150%
125%
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
Dec 15
Dec 14
Dec 13
Dec 12
Dec 11
Dec 10
Dec 09
Dec 08
Dec 07
Dec 06
-25%
Dec 05
MANAGER: Alex Crooke
PREMIUM/DISCOUNT: -0.5%
LAUNCHED: 13/04/1988
OCF: 0.48%
FE CROWN RATING:
Source: FE Analytics
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