Lindsell Train, the fund management business co-owned by Nick Train, recorded a profit after tax of £62.3m for the year to the end of January 2021 and paid the founders over £35m in dividends.
The profit came in higher than the £59m recorded the previous year, according to filings at Companies House. Turnover for 2021 was £115m.
Train owns just more than a third of the firm, with fellow fund manager Mike Lindsell owning the same number of shares. The rest of the business is owned by the Lindsell Train investment trust and by other employees.
Train and Lindsell's combined 74 per cent of the business yielded them a dividend of £35.7m, or £17.8m each.
The highest paid director, likely to have been either Train or Lindsell, received a £10m wage.
The firm has 21 employees, with the total wage bill, including for directors, coming to £34m.
Lindsell Train operates five public funds, Lindsell Train Global, Lindsell Train UK, Lindsell Train Japan, and the Finsbury Growth and Income and Lindsell Train investment trusts.
The firm paid total dividends to shareholders for the year of £48.3m, up more than £5m when compared with the previous year.
During the year the company invested £5m to create a new US equity fund product, which is not yet available to retail or advised clients.
This product is managed by James Bullock, a manager on the global equity fund, and a small shareholder in the business. Both Train and Lindsell also put £1m each of their personal cash into this fund during the year.
The value of Lindsell Train Limited’s £5m investment in the fund had risen to £6m by the end of January 2021. Train also spent £4.8m buying more shares in the Finsbury Growth and Income trust he manages during the year.
Train has in the past said the launch and promotion of this fund was part of the company’s long-term succession planning.
The strategic report which accompanies the accounts, and which was signed by Mike Lindsell, stated the company wants to “grow the number of investment mandates” it runs.
david.thorpe@ft.com
