The 143-year-old Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust (LSE: FRCL) may be an unfashionable investment choice, but its 16.9% return over the past year shows the trust is holding up well in its old age. The trust's performance holds up over the longer term too, with a 36.6% return over five years, comfortably ahead of the 28.6% gain seen in its benchmark, the global growth sector. Better still, the £1.8bn trust trades at a 9.3% discount to net asset value (so you can buy almost £1 of assets for 90p), and also pays a 2.2% dividend yield.
The trust's private-equity portfolio has helped it deliver a solid performance in the first half of 2011 it rose 11% and cash realisations from its private equity investments grew significantly. "We are on the cusp of seeing significant cash returns from our private-equity funds and our highly diversified listed portfolio gives us exposure to many growth opportunities," said Simon Fraser, chairman of the trust's board, when the trust announced its first-half results.
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Foreign & Colonial Investmenttop ten holdings
| Pantheon Europe Fund III | 2.90% |
| Pantheon Europe V | 2.40% |
| Harbourvest V Direct Fund | 2.30% |
| Vodafone Group | 2.10% |
| Rio Tinto | 2.00% |
| HSBC Holdings | 2.00% |
| GlaxoSmithKline | 1.90% |
| BP | 1.80% |
| Harbourvest Buyout Fund VII | 1.60% |
| British American Tobacco | 1.50% |
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