27th Feb 2026 13:23
(Alliance News) - Murray Income Trust PLC on Friday said it is appointing Artemis as the new portfolio manager from next month after completing a strategic review, as it reported interim net asset value per share growth.
The Edinburgh-based investment trust, which will be transitioning from Aberdeen's management and aims for high income by investing in UK equities, says there will be no changes in its objectives, benchmark, or gearing and dividend policies.
Murray's Chair Peter Tait also announced he intends to retire at the annual general meeting in November after nine years as director, and that the process to identify his successor is underway.
Murray Income reported a net asset value total return of 8.1% for the six months ended December 31, underperforming its benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index, which returned 13.7% over the same period.
"Performance at a sector level was mixed. The Banks and Mining sectors performed particularly strongly with both sectors increasing by over 35% while the Technology, Real Estate and Beverages sectors struggled. Continuing the medium-term trend, the more domestically focused FTSE 250 Index underperformed the FTSE 100 Index over the period," said the investment trust.
Murray paid the second interim dividend of 9.50 pence per share earlier this month, but says it expects to exceed its previous year's 40 pence per share delivering the 52nd consecutive year of divided growth.
Murray Income Trust shares were 0.9% higher at 981.74 pence each on Friday afternoon in London.
"I look forward to the Artemis team taking over responsibility for the portfolio. Their approach is very much bottom-up stock-picking and, whether faced with endogenous UK economic and market dynamics or exogenous geo-political shocks, I am confident that their approach will produce successful long-term total returns within a well-balanced UK equity income portfolio," said Chair Tait.
By Martin Miraglia, Alliance News reporter
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