Uncovering Trusts – Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT): High-conviction UK investing and the case for digital winners

In this episode, our director of content for investment companies, Milosz Papst, talks about Finsbury Growth & Income Trust (FGT), a UK Equity Income trust celebrating its centenary in 2026. He introduces the trust and its managers’ long-term, high-conviction approach – a concentrated portfolio of typically around 20 UK-listed holdings, managed by Nick Train and Madeline Wright at Lindsell Train. Milosz outlines the portfolio’s three broad themes: data, software and platform companies (the ‘digital winners’), premium and luxury consumer brands, and stock market proxies. He discusses the investment case behind the digital winners – eight UK-listed businesses including LSEG, Experian, RELX, Sage and Rightmove. Train believes their constantly replenishing proprietary data assets position these companies as beneficiaries, rather than casualties, of the AI revolution. Milosz also covers developments in the consumer brand holdings, including Diageo, Burberry and Unilever, and changes to the trust’s asset management exposure following the takeovers of Hargreaves Lansdown and Schroders.

Milosz then addresses FGT’s recent performance, with the trust having underperformed its UK All-Share benchmark for five consecutive calendar years, and a NAV total return of 1.2% over five years to end March 2026 versus 69.3% for the index, set against a cumulative NAV total return of 551.4% since Lindsell Train’s appointment in December 2000. He concludes by covering the board’s proactive response to underperformance, including a continuation vote at the January 2026 AGM, a management fee reduction and an active share buyback programme. Milosz also touches on the trust’s progressive dividend policy, a current discount of around 7% to NAV, and an ongoing charges ratio of 0.6%.

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About Uncovering Trusts: Uncovering Trusts is a podcast run by Edison analysts, which is released every two weeks. Subscribe to hear analyst interviews on how investment trusts maximise returns while managing risks for investors.