Law Debenture Corporation (LWDB) was launched in 1889 and has a unique structure with around one-sixth of its £1.2bn of net assets attributable to a three-pronged professional services business, and the remainder consisting of a UK equity portfolio of around 150 stocks managed by James Henderson and Laura Foll of Janus Henderson. Backed by a range of long-term debentures at an average interest rate of 4%, its steady approach has resulted in it becoming the best-performing UK Equity Income trust of the past decade with an annualised NAV return of 8.8% versus 6.2% for the FTSE All-Share and at l...
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Henderson Opportunities (HOT) was launched in 1985 and initially held international small-cap stocks but with a strong UK focus. In 2005, it briefly switched its mandate to UK micro-caps before adopting its current UK all-cap approach in January 2007. HOT was been managed by James Henderson since 2007 with Laura Foll becoming co-manager in 2018 (the pair also manage Lowland and the equity portfolio of Law Debenture). HOT's portfolio consists of around 90 positions but there remains a strong bias towards small-caps with around two-thirds of the portfolio invested outside of the FTSE 100. Perfor...
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In this week’s edition of the Weekly Investment Trust Podcast, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook, talks to Peter Hewitt, manager of the CT Global Managed Portfolio, and James Henderson, manager of the Lowland Investment Trust (LWI).
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0:00:29 – Review of the week
0:00:53 – This week’s guests
0:05:35 – Company news
0:15:42 – Summary of results
0:21:14 – Money Makers Circle
0:22:06 – Q&A with Peter Hewitt
0:45:47 – Q&A with James Henderson
1:06:41 – Close
Trusts mentioned in this week’s podcast (with tickers) include:
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Lowland Investment Company (ticker: LWI) was launched in 1963 with the dual mandate of providing income and capital growth by investing in a wide range of UK companies. James Henderson has managed this trust since 1990 and Laura Foll was appointed as co-manager in 2016. Henderson and Foll also manage two other UK-focused trusts, Law Debenture and Henderson Opportunities, plus an open-ended fund. Lowland adopts a value approach but unlike most other UK Equity Income vehicles, it only invests between a third and a half of its portfolio in FTSE 100 companies. This has hampered its recent performa...
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Law Debenture's unique combination of a professional services business and a UK-focused portfolio with a strong value bias enabled it to navigate 2020 with relative ease. This trust was founded in 1889, making it one of the oldest in the UK, and it boasts a strong performance record over the last few decades plus a 42-year stretch of either maintaining or increasing its dividend.
If Law Debenture didn't exist, it seems highly unlikely that someone would try and create it from scratch. But this trust has proved its strength in recent years and seems to have a renewed sense of purpose since 201...
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For premium subscribers we do regular interviews with fund managers and analysts about current market conditions and funds and markets (occasionally shares) that we invest in. The latest one is with Laura Foll, co-manager with James Henderson of two listed investment trusts, Lowland and Henderson Opportunities Trust. They are also jointly responsible for the equity portfolio of the distinctive mixed asset trust Law Debenture. Laura has worked for Janus Henderson, the management company of all three trusts, for the past 12 years.
Lowland (ticker LWI) sits in the UK Equity Income sector while...
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