F&C Investment Trust (FCIT)

F&C Investment Trust (FCIT) has been the best performing constituent of the AIC Global sector over the past five years (to 13/03/2026), with its well-diversified Portfolio across regions, sectors, and investment styles having enabled it to adapt more effectively to rapidly changing market environments than many of its peers. However, the trust has lagged its benchmark, the FTSE All-World Index, over the same period, as particularly concentrated market returns in a few AI-related stocks — notably in 2023 and 2024 — made it difficult for active strategies to outperform.

During the trust’s FY 2025 (ended 31/12/2025), manager Paul Niven, who oversees the strategic and tactical allocation, increased the weight to emerging markets equities, expecting their outperformance of developed markets to continue, supported by tailwinds such as a weaker US dollar, lower US interest rates, and attractive valuations. As discussed in our previous note, Paul appointed Invesco in March 2025 to manage FCIT’s emerging markets portfolio, and this change has proved rewarding so far, with the portfolio having outperformed its regional benchmark last year. On balance, however, FCIT was a net seller of equities in FY 2025, partly to fund share buybacks. Most of the sales involved US equities, although Paul remains constructive on them, highlighting their track record of delivering superior earnings growth relative to other regions. That said, he expects market returns to continue broadening beyond the US.

In addition, the trust has increased its Dividend for 55 consecutive years. For FY 2025, the board is proposing a final dividend of 5.2p to be approved at the annual general meeting on 29/04/2026. This would bring the total dividend for the year to 16.6p, representing a 6.4% year-on-year rise and resulting in a prospective yield of c. 1.4%.