Edison issues review on The Merchants Trust

London, UK, 24 March 2022

Edison issues review on The Merchants Trust (MRCH)

The Merchants Trust (MRCH) is managed by Allianz Global Investors' chief investment officer, UK equities, Simon Gergel. He is very pleased by how the trust's income has recovered as companies have returned to paying dividends. With an uncertain economic and investment backdrop, which has been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the manager stresses the importance of focusing on companies' long-term prospects. Gergel considers MRCH's balanced portfolio of attractively valued cyclical and defensive stocks, with both domestic and international businesses, is relatively well positioned for the current environment. The trust has a commendable performance track record, having outperformed its UK benchmark over the last one, three, five and 10 years, while its NAV total return now ranks first or second versus its 16 largest peers in the AIC UK Equity income sector over the last one, three and five years.

MRCH's shares are currently trading at a 1.8% premium to NAV, which compares to a range of an average 0.5% premium to a 2.0% discount over the last one, three, five and 10 years. Strong investor demand for the trust's shares has meant that the share base increased by 5.6% in FY22, and by a further 1.5% so far in FY23. MRCH is on track to deliver 40 consecutive years of dividend growth and offers an attractive, above-market 4.8% yield.

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