October was a good month for the Trust as Sterling continued to recover, reaching near $1.30, and bond yields rose modestly. The Trust’s net asset value rose 0.4%, while the FTSE All-Share benchmark fell 1.4% and the UK Equity Income peer group fell 0.4% (all on a total return basis). The rotation in the market that began in September continued, with domestic companies closing some of the performance gap with the rest of the market (although the lag since the EU referendum result remains material), and defensive companies such as Diageo (not held within the portfolio) modestly underperforming. We also had one piece of materially positive news for International Personal Finance, where they have resolved a long running dispute with Polish tax authorities for a modest sum, leaving the balance sheet in a much better position.

Glossary

Bond: A debt security issued by a company or a government, used as a way of raising money.

Yield: The level of income on a security, typically expressed as a percentage rate. For equities, a common measure is the dividend yield, which divides recent dividend payments for each share by the share price. For a bond, this is calculated as the coupon payment divided by the current bond price.

If you are investing in a different currency than shown, this may cause figures to differ from those shown