Murray Income Trust
Income focus keeps paying dividends
20 November 2024
Murray Income Trust (MUT) invests in high-quality, mainly UK-listed stocks. MUT’s manager, Charles Luke, believes quality stocks are best placed to support the trust’s objective to provide a high and rising dividend. The trust has realised this objective, delivering continually rising dividends for 51 years, and looks set to extend this record in FY25. MUT’s quality focus has undermined its relative performance over recent years, as value stocks have outperformed, but long-term performance has been positive and close to the benchmark, satisfying MUT’s capital growth goal. And Luke is optimistic about the prospects for UK equities, especially the quality businesses he targets. Investors have been underweight this market for some time, suggesting a rise in inflows is overdue, especially as the UK’s political environment has stabilised. Furthermore, declining interest rates should encourage greater M&A activity as investors seek to take advantage of valuations that Luke believes remain ‘compelling’. MORE »
Delivering income and capital growth
15 April 2024
Murray Income Trust (MUT) invests in high-quality, mainly UK-listed stocks. It has achieved both its dividend and capital growth objectives over the long term. The trust boasts 50 years of continually rising dividends. It paid a dividend of 37.5p per share in FY23 (ended 30 June 2023 (FY22: 36.0p)), and the board has indicated the dividend will rise to at least 38.0p in FY24. This represents a prospective yield of 4.5%. Late last year the company decided to take action to allow shareholders to access dividend income more quickly and more evenly throughout the year, by smoothing quarterly dividend payments. MUT has also delivered absolute gains and outperformance of the market and most of its peers over the longer term, returning an annual average of 6.1% in NAV terms over the 10 years ended 31 March 2024, versus an average market gain of 5.8% pa. The trust’s managers view UK equities as very attractively priced at current levels and expect the portfolio’s quality holdings to outperform as and when UK stocks return to favour with investors. MORE »
Maintaining a commitment to quality and income
18 May 2021
Murray Income Trust (MUT) invests in a diversified portfolio of mainly UK equities. It focuses on quality stocks and aims to provide a high and growing income, combined with capital growth. MUT’s merger with Perpetual Income and Growth Investment Trust (PLI) in Q420 doubled the trust’s assets under management and is expected to deliver a reduction to its already competitive fee. The income MUT provides to investors has proved very resilient during the pandemic, despite widespread dividend cuts – the trust delivered its 47th consecutive year of increased annual dividends in 2020 and the board is committed to maintaining this record in future. Recent relative performance has been challenged by the rotation into cyclical and value stocks, which has seen the quality companies MUT targets underperform. However, the trust has outperformed the broad UK market over the longer term and outpaced its peers over three and five years. The trust’s manager, Charlie Luke, believes the recent rotation into cyclical and value stocks will prove short-lived. He intends to maintain his focus on higher-quality companies that should thrive in the current tough environment and emerge over time in a stronger competitive position. MORE »
Quality focus continues to deliver rising income
26 November 2020
Murray Income Trust’s (MUT) recent combination with Perpetual Income and Growth Investment Trust (PLI) has doubled the trust’s assets under management to £1.1bn and is expected to deliver a substantial fee reduction to investors. MUT invests in a diversified portfolio of mainly UK equities and aims to provide a high and growing income, combined with capital growth. It has achieved these objectives, having just delivered its 47th consecutive year of increasing annual dividends, while also outperforming its benchmark (a broad UK stock market index) and most of its peers over both the short and longer term. Manager Charles Luke’s success – even in the current climate, which has been characterised by widespread dividend cuts – confirms his conviction that ‘quality, sustainable and growing income is out there, if you know where to look’. He intends to maintain his research-intensive search for resilient companies capable of growing future earnings and dividends over time. MORE »
Quality stocks prove a safe haven in tough times
7 May 2020
Murray Income Trust (MUT) aims to provide a high and growing income combined with capital growth, through investment in a diversified portfolio of mainly UK equities. It has achieved these objectives both recently and longer term, delivering 46 consecutive years of increasing annual dividends, and outperforming its benchmark (a broad UK stock market index) and most of its peers during the recent market turbulence and over the long term. Manager Charles Luke’s approach is based on identifying dependable stocks, which have the capacity to weather downturns, and on diversification across income, capital and sector. He focuses on high-quality companies, including mid-caps, which he believes produce less volatile income streams and are better placed to navigate uncertain times and capitalise on opportunities to create value over the longer term. MORE »
Differentiated approach to UK equity income
18 October 2019
Murray Income Trust (MUT) has significantly outperformed its FTSE All-Share Index benchmark and the majority of peers over the past year, in large part due to its focus on high-quality companies with strong balance sheets, which have held up better than others in recent bouts of market volatility. Manager Charles Luke takes a long-term approach, giving time for company fundamentals to win through and reducing trading costs. The trust has an increased focus on mid-cap and smaller companies (now c 30% of the portfolio) and also has the ability to invest up to 20% (currently c 11%) overseas. The manager highlights MUT’s attractive income characteristics, with a 4.0% yield, above-average dividend growth and dividend security, and a 46-year record of increasing its annual payouts. MORE »
Positioned to perform in challenging conditions
31 January 2019
Murray Income Trust (MUT) seeks to provide investors with a high and growing income, as well as capital growth, by investing mainly in UK equities. Lead manager Charles Luke and deputy manager Iain Pyle run a relatively focused portfolio of 30–70 companies chosen for their attractive yields and dividend and capital growth prospects. They seek good-quality businesses with strong balance sheets and competitive positions, and may invest up to 20% of the portfolio overseas in order to diversify sources of income, and access opportunities unavailable in the UK. Following the merger of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life, MUT has access to a significantly expanded UK equity team, with in-depth coverage of large, medium-sized and smaller companies, and has increased its exposure to higher-growth mid and small caps as a result. MUT has a 45-year record of dividend growth and currently offers a yield of 4.5%, above the average for its AIC UK Equity Income peer group. MORE »
