JPM European trust proposes cutting UK exposure

J.P. Morgan is proposing to alter the income mandate on its £96m European investment trust, in a move which would see it sell out of the UK and focus on continental Europe.

The trust's board said in a statement that it sees greater income opportunities in continental Europe as opposed to pan-Europe where it is currently focused. It argues corporate balance sheets in continental Europe are significantly stronger than they have been for a generation, while the opportunity in the UK is now less appealing. The trust, which was reorganised into income and growth portfolios in 2006, is managed by Stephen Macklow-Smith, Michael Barakos and Alexander Fitzalan-Howard. James Saunders Watson, head of investment trust marketing at J.P. Morgan, said: "While there ...