Middlefield trust: Oil and gas companies have 'unheard of' levels of cash

Five companies in portfolio

Dean Orrico and Rob Lauzon, managers of the £183.7m Middlefield Canadian Income trust, are feeling confident in their home market of Canada with 95% invested in the country, up from about 70% two to three years ago.

The trust has the ability to invest in Canada as well as the US, although as the name suggests the managers tend to put the majority in the Canadian market. Even so, the current mix, which sat a 95.9% Canadian and 4.1% US as of the end of May, is regarded as quite bullish. "We feel so strongly about the outlook for Canada that we think this is the best allocation of capital," said Orrico. Two key areas of the market the managers like are energy and real estate, which make up about 30% and 20% of the portfolio, respectively. Oil and gas companies had previously been suffering from a...