AIC to publish enhanced dividend information as more trusts make payments out of capital

'Dividend history' information for each AIC member

The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) will now provide dividend history information for each of its members to help investors understand whether a trust's dividend was paid from income or capital profits.

This comes as an increasing number of investment trusts have started to pay dividends from capital profits since a change in tax rules in 2012 allowing them to do so. This method has become more popular, particularly in the last 12 months as it has seen some trust discounts narrow and investor demand increase. The new dividend history section for each of the AIC's members will let investors know how each dividend was paid for that company, as well as its level of undistributed income kept in reserve. These are known as revenue reserves, a process unique to closed-ended companies al...