Lindsell Train has waived half of its £5.3m performance fee for the Lindsell Train Investment Trust for the past year.
The investment manager had accrued a performance fee of £5,323,404 for the year to March 31, 2021 but Lindsell Train offered to waive half of that fee, reducing it to £2,661,702.
The move comes as the trust has changed its benchmark index and calculation of the fee.
The trust has adopted the MSCI world index in sterling as its benchmark from April 1, which the board said was a “more appropriate” benchmark given that the firm’s portfolio is predominantly invested in equities.
In a statement to the stock exchange this morning (June 6), the board said the new benchmark would also be used to calculate the performance fee in future, which was expected to lead to a lower fee.
It will simultaneously change to the calculation of the performance hurdle, which will raise the level of fees payable, but overall it expects fees to be slightly lower as a result of the changes.
It said: “The board is satisfied that this change is fair for shareholders and in line with standard market practice, and that the effect on the level of fees is likely to be more than offset by the downward effect expected by the change in benchmark.”
The trust’s latest half yearly results showed that its net asset value jumped 21 per cent in the six months to the end of September and its share price return increased by 13 per cent.
According to chairman Julian Cazalet, the most significant contribution to the trust’s success was its investment in the Lindsell Train fund house, which accounts for nearly half of the trust’s assets.
The value of Lindsell Train jumped 24.5 per cent in the six months to September, up from its low point at the start of the coronavirus crisis.
sally.hickey@ft.com
