Why the underperforming Temple Bar investment trust will deliver again

Temple Bar, the value-focused investment trust, has had a dreadful year, but new managers should turn it around.

Few investments have fallen from grace as quickly as Temple Bar (LSE: TMPL). Last year the £1bn flagship of the UK equity-income sector returned 29%, 10% ahead of the FTSE All-Share index, and its shares traded close to net asset value. However, the pandemic has been disastrous for the high-yielding recovery stocks backed by its manager, Alastair Mundy. This year, the net asset value has fallen 48% and the share price 56%. The 3.7% yield that it offered back in January has provided scant compensation, especially as the 70% fall in revenue per share in the first half showed it to be unsustainable.

Under new management

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Max King
Investment Writer

Max has an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered accountant. He worked at Investec Asset Management for 12 years, managing multi-asset funds investing in internally and externally managed funds, including investment trusts. This included a fund of investment trusts which grew to £120m+. Max has managed ten investment trusts (winning many awards) and sat on the boards of three trusts – two directorships are still active.

After 39 years in financial services, including 30 as a professional fund manager, Max took semi-retirement in 2017. Max has been a MoneyWeek columnist since 2016 writing about investment funds and more generally on markets online, plus occasional opinion pieces. He also writes for the Investment Trust Handbook each year and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and other publications. See here for details of current investments held by Max.