Trojan Income Fund (GB00B01BNW49) is to try to limit new money from investors into the fund. From 1 May the minimum investment, currently £1,000, will rise to £250,000 and an initial charge of 5 per cent will be implemented. Troy Asset Management says that as the assets have grown, manager Francis Brooke has been required to spend an increasing amount of time meeting and updating investors. Mr Brooke sees his first priority as looking after existing investors and managing the assets already entrusted to him, so the Trojan Income Fund will be 'soft closed'.
The fund currently is £931m in size.
However, the soft closure will not affect existing investors who will be able to add to their holdings, under unchanged terms. And the good news for new investors is that even after 1 May they will still be able to invest in this IC Top 100 Fund via several fund platforms without incurring an initial charge or high minimum investment.
The fund is available on many platforms including Alliance Trust Savings and Hargreaves Lansdown, which private investors can use. New and existing clients on Alliance Trust Savings can continue to purchase shares in this fund through the platform without incurring the initial charge that is being imposed, and it has no minimum investment.
Hargreaves Lansdown meanwhile says that it is able to continue to offer Trojan Income at the same terms of 0 per cent initial charge and minimum investment of £500.
Like the other funds run by Troy Asset Management, Trojan Income focuses on wealth preservation while looking to provide an above average income with the potential for capital growth in the medium term. The fund has been successful in doing this, for example in 2008 it was the UK Equity Income sector fund which lost the least only going down 12 per cent in contrast to the average fund down 28.5 per cent, and the FTSE All-Share down around 30 per cent. It has made positive returns in most years. This has stacked up to leading long-term returns - it is the third best UK equity income fund over five years out of 76 funds.
It is an IC Top 100 Fund and won Best UK Equity Income Fund at the Investors Chronicle's Fund Awards last year.
However, its emphasis on preservation means it can lag its peers when markets are rallying, as well as the FTSE All-Share, though the fund does not benchmark itself against this. Last year, for example, the fund returned nearly 10 per cent but was seventy fifth out of 97 funds in its sector.
Despite this the fund keeps its place in wealth manager Sanlam's White List of proven UK equity income funds. "Mr Brooke features slightly lower than in our 2012 mid-year study with his Troy Trojan Income vehicle," comments Sanlam. "We would expect this with the strong returns we saw from the market in the final half of the year, as his skills are perhaps more adept at protecting when markets are weak. We, therefore, retain our buy recommendation."
Read our interview with Francis Brooke
The White List January 2013
| Fund | Net dividend yield 31/12/12 | Total return 31/12/11 go 31/12/12 (%) | Volatility 31/12/07 to 31/12/12 |
| JO Hambro UK Equity Income | 4.6 | 24.3 | 5.6 |
| Unicorn UK Income | 3.5 | 33.9 | 5.1 |
| Threadneedle UK Equity Alpha Income | 4.7 | 18.9 | 4.5 |
| RBS Equity Income | 3.8 | 17.5 | 4.7 |
| Royal London UK Equity Income | 4.3 | 21.3 | 5.0 |
| Threadneedle UK Equity Income | 4.5 | 16.6 | 4.6 |
| Cazenove UK Equity Income | 3.8 | 21 | 5.1 |
| Troy Trojan Income | 4.4 | 10.4 | 3.5 |
| PFS Chelverton UK Equity Income | 5.3 | 30.3 | 5.6 |
| Aviva Investors UK Equity Income | 4.2 | 16.1 | 4.6 |
| Artemis Income | 4.4 | 14.6 | 4.3 |
| Premier Monthly Income | 5.6 | 11.7 | 4.5 |
| Rathbone Blue Chip Income &Growth | 4.1 | 17.1 | 4.4 |
| Schroder Income Maximiser | 6.6 | 26.1 | 5.5 |
| White list average | 4.6 | 20 | 4.8 |
Source: Sanlam Private Investments
TROJAN INCOME FUND O INC (GB00B01BNW49) | |||
| PRICE | 141.88p | STANDARD DEVIATION | 9.13% |
| IMA SECTOR | UK Equity Income | MEAN RETURN | 13.11% |
| FUND TYPE | Open-ended investment company | SHARPE RATIO | 1.29 |
| FUND SIZE | £931m* | TOTAL EXPENSE RATIO | 1.05% |
| No OF HOLDINGS | 44* | MANAGER START DATE | 30 September 2004 |
| SET UP DATE | 30-Sep-04 | MORE DETAILS | www.taml.co.uk |
Source: Morningstar, *Troy Asset Management
| 1 year total return (%) | 3 year total return (%) | 5 year total return (%) | |
| Trojan Income | 15.04 | 43.22 | 57.17 |
| FTSE All Share | 11.64 | 37.62 | 28.09 |
Source: Morningstar as at 4 February 2012
Top 10 holdings as at 31 December 2012
| GlaxoSmithKline | 3.9 |
| Royal Dutch Shell | 3.8 |
| BP | 3.7 |
| HSBC | 3.3 |
| Vodafone | 3.3 |
| Severn Trent | 3.2 |
| British American Tobacco | 3.2 |
| Imperial Tobacco | 3.2 |
| National Grid | 3.2 |
| Centrica | 3.2 |
Sector break down
| Consumer goods | 23 |
| Financials | 17 |
| Utilities | 16 |
| Oil &gas | 9 |
| Healthcare | 7 |
| Consumer services | 6 |
| Telecommunications | 5 |
| Industrials | 4 |
| Technology | 3 |
| Basic materials | 2 |
| Fixed income | 1 |
| Cash | 7 |
