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To achieve capital and income growth and to provide shareholders with a total return in excess of that of the FTSE All-Share Index.
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Have held fgt in certificate form for a few years now and really like the steady growth. Especially enjoy watching Nick Train on the website videos. He does seem to be very "buffet" like in his thinking and the companies he chooses.
Also good to see he has skin in the game too.
Yes, I just bought in last two weeks based on the recent ii article on Investment Trusts. Thought this Fund would slowly grind higher over time given its strartegy of investing in big brands which I had hoped would also partly insulate against any disorderly Brexit. Time will tell!
Many of the posts are about Finsbury Food; this is the Finsbury Growth and Income Inv Trust page.....what is going on? Having said that, nothing since 2013. Shares doing ok, good chart and interesting portfolio- last bought at 580. Holding on, I think. Anyone else following?
That's what I call a chart. Yum yum.
Tempted... and they make cakes too.
Cake and bread maker Finsbury Food Group said it had raised almost four million pounds to fund the company's UK cake business. The firm said a placing of around 10.4m new shares at 38p each had raised £3.9m before expenses. It plans to use the proceeds to develop the product portfolio capability at its cake business using new technology and automation. It will also improve production efficiencies, thus reducing the cost of manufacturing. "Projects will be implemented in a phased fashion over the course of the next two years to avoid any exceptional charges," the statement said. "The directors of the company believe the planned investment will deliver a final annualised benefit of some £2m.
Finsbury's share price suggests investors still think of the group as a write-off. That may have been fair when the group was labouring under a mass of debt, but Finsbury now looks much healthier. What's more, even using valuation metrics that take debt into account, the company still looks extremely cheap - its enterprise value (the value of net debt plus equity) is just 4 times Cenkos's forecast for 2012-13's cash profits. True, Finsbury shares come with big risks, but, if the company can convince investors it can produce growth despite the tough economic backdrop and that debt will no longer hold back development, there could be significant upside but always dyor gl
The performance of the business also looks better. The company achieved impressive growth last year. Cakes sales were helped by exports through Finsbury's 50 per cent-owned joint venture Lightbody and were 9 per cent ahead. Meanwhile, its bread and gluten-free products increased sales by 10 per cent. The group looks well positioned in some fast-growing areas and is the market leader in the gluten-free baked goods; this immature market is growing at around 15 per cent a year. Finsbury also had strong bread sales thanks to growing demand for freshly-baked bread. Its sales success has also been helped by investment in innovation and a number of brand licences, including Disney, Thorntons, Weight Watchers and Vogel. However, the company still faces a tough consumer environment and the spectre of rising input costs. This means progress will not come easily, but the organic growth achieved over the last year is encouraging. With the balance sheet now looking stronger, there is also the potential for bolt-on acquisitions.
Baker Finsbury Food is looking like a credible turnaround story. In recent years the company has been tackling its debt, which peaked at £50m in 2008, whilst eking out growth from the troubled food retail sector. Yet results for 2011-12 show that Finsbury is making good progress, even though its shares are still priced for a disaster that now looks unlikely. Debt has been the key issue for some time and a focus for Finsbury's bosses, who came on board the then-struggling company in 2009. Now the situation no longer looks so bad. At the end of June, net debt including deferred considerations was £33.9m, a £3.2m drop in the preceding 12 months. This leaves debt representing a manageable 2.6 times last year's underlying cash profits, while net interest costs were covered 4.9 times by cash profits. What's more, the company has a £47m debt facility with HSBC which stretches out to 2017. The balance sheet and borrowing position of the company is also strengthened by the fact that Finsbury owns a number of freehold sites. So, while the group's balance sheet still carries debt equal to 70 per cent of shareholders' funds, it has begun to look reasonably solid. Broker Cenkos, which advises Finsbury, thinks it is sound enough for the company to reinstate the dividend this year. That could provide the grounds for re-rating its shares that - trading at less than half their underlying book value (see table) - are in "deep value" territory.
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Buy 30-Aug-12 £26,901.10 Anthony Townsend 7,330 @ 367.00p
FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST'S LONG-TERM RECORD IS SECOND TO NONE Finsbury Growth & Income Trust has a highly concentrated portfolio of just 26 stocks is more cyclically focused than other's, and features financial services companies Schroders and Rathbones, as well as consumer goods firms such as Heineken and Kraft Foods, in its top-10 holdings. It is generally more volatile and tends to outperform in down markets; however, it more than makes up for this during up periods and its long-term record is second to none. According to FE data, it has returned 234.96 per cent over 10 years – almost 50 per cent more than its closest equity income rival. Source: http://www.trustnet.com/News/359544/investment-trust-swaps-uk-equity-income/ P.S. Here's some links about SCLP, one of the hottest stocks at the moment: http://www.euroinvestor.com/community/discussionthread.aspx?iid=2467508&threadid=256596&mode=2 http://www.euroinvestor.com/community/discussionthread.aspx?iid=2467508&threadid=253089&mode=2 http://www.euroinvestor.com/community/discussionthread.aspx?iid=2467508&threadid=257550&mode=2
Finsbury Food cautiously optimistic By Caroline Jouan Date: Wednesday 23 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Cake and bread maker Finsbury Food reported a 3% rise in half year pre-tax profit helped by a strong performance from its Bread and 'Free From' and a return to profit at its cake division. Pre-tax profit rose to £1.9m for the six months ended 1 January 2011 from £1.8m before. Group revenue increased to £87.8m from £82.9m. Sales in the Cake division increased to £64.2m from £62.2m. Sales in the Bread and Free From division increased 14% to £23.6m. Net debt was down 9% to £36.8m. Chief executive John Duffy commented, "Although we are adopting a cautious approach with the trading environment as it is, we look forward to exploiting the growth opportunities available to us in both the Bread and Free From market, and also the Cake market, in the coming year." "We continue to drive the business forward through what have been difficult markets, and lay the foundations in preparation for a more positive trading environment, which we are confident will arrive over time," he added.