City of London Investment Trust (CTY) became the first investment trust to achieve 50 years of consecutive dividend growth earlier this year, and its trust's long-term performance remains strong. Over three and five years it has outperformed the FTSE All-Share index and the average return for UK equity income trusts. The trust delivered a share price return of 28 per cent and 82 per cent over three and five years, respectively, compared with 23 per cent and 65 per cent for the FTSE All-Share over those periods.
Over one year, however, the trust has failed to beat the index, delivering 10 per cent compared with 14 per cent.
The trust's underweight position to the oil and gas sector, which accounts for about 7 per cent of its assets compared with 11 per cent of the FTSE All-Share, detracted from performance as oil and gas companies did better than expected following the oil price bounce.