BlackRock's McLeod-Clarke takes over British Portfolio trust

The board of the £40m British Portfolio trust has stripped RCM of its role as manager of the trust, following a period of poor performance.

Since inception five years ago under RCM's management the trust has posted an NAV decline of 13% in its UK Growth sector, while the peer group average returned 2.4%, according to Morningstar. BlackRock have been appointed as the trust's new investment manager, with Nick McLeod-Clarke as lead manager. McLeod-Clarke is co-manager of BlackRock's £736m UK Income fund, alongside Adam Avigdori. He replaces Jeremy Thomas, a director at RCM, who has been running the vehicle since April 2008. The board said under BlackRock's stewardship they anticipate the trust will gain interest from n...