Franklin Global Trust (FRGT)

Franklin Global Trust (FRGT) is the new name of Martin Currie Global Portfolio (MNP) following the trust’s integration into Franklin Equity Group (FEG), with the strategy remaining unchanged: investing unconstrained in attractively valued, high-quality companies with strong fundamentals and a sustainable growth trajectory. However, manager Zehrid Osmani and his team of ten analysts now benefit from the support of more than 60 professionals, while Jonathan Curtis, chief investment officer of FEG, is set to join as co-portfolio manager in July 2025 to help facilitate FRGT’s integration into the group. That said, we understand Zehrid will remain responsible for stock selection.

During the trust’s past financial year (ended 31/01/2025), Zehrid and his team strengthened their exposure to companies well positioned to monetise artificial intelligence (AI), believing these businesses will be the beneficiaries of the next phase of AI development. As a result, Meta and Apple were introduced into the Portfolio. Zehrid and his team also added consumer names benefitting from brand momentum, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Deckers Outdoor, replacing consumer stocks in the portfolio where the team’s conviction had decreased. High conviction in the stock selection is a cornerstone of the strategy, with only the team’s best ideas getting a place in the portfolio, which consists of 31 stocks as of 30/04/2025.

In late November 2024, the board fully repaid the trust’s debt facility and removed Gearing due to higher borrowing costs, an uncertain market outlook, and to help the trust’s zero-discount policy (ZDP). Indeed, the board takes a proactive approach to share buybacks and issuance in order to keep the trust’s share price as close to NAV as possible. Over the past 12 months (to 02/06/2025), FRGT has continued to trade at a very narrow Discount, standing at c. 2.2% at the time of writing.