Foreign & Colonial trust to slash UK exposure ahead of 'setback'

The £2.2bn Foreign & Colonial investment trust is preparing to halve its UK exposure, as well has slashing gearing to mitigate against a possible 10% fall in equity markets in 2014.

In February 2012, the UK’s oldest trust changed its benchmark to the FTSE World index, reducing its UK exposure from 33% to 22%. Manager Jeremy Tigue (pictured) said he plans to further reduce the trust’s UK holdings, to around 10% this year to capitalise on global opportunities rather than a concentrated domestic market. “Going back a few years, we had 45% in the UK producing 75% of dividends,” he said. “The direction of travel is to continue to reduce our UK exposure. We could not switch without having an effect on our income, and we did not want to do it all in one go. The move ...