Merchants Share Chat (MRCH)

Share Name	Share Symbol	Market	Type	Share ISIN	Share Description
Merchants Trust Plc	LSE:MRCH	London	Ordinary Share	GB0005800072	ORD 25P

	Price Change	% Change	Share Price	Bid Price	Offer Price	High Price	Low Price	Open Price	Shares Traded	Last Trade
	+5.00p	+1.06%	477.00p	473.50p	477.00p	476.00p	470.00p	473.00p	102,983	16:35:03

Industry Sector	Turnover (m)	Profit (m)	EPS - Basic	PE Ratio	Market Cap (m)
Equity Investment Instruments	34.1	30.1	27.7	17.2	525

Merchants Share Discussion Threads

Showing 351 to 374 of 375 messages

Chat Pages: 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 Older

Date	Subject	Author	Discuss
05/10/2019 10:12	Why an investment company could be your perfect pension 18 April 2019 David Prosser tells us why smart pension savers are turning to closed-ended funds. What’s the best way to save and invest inside a pension plan? Pension savers benefit from generous tax breaks that automatically give their retirement funds a boost, but to really maximise your income later in life, you need to earn the best possible returns on your contributions. The pension freedom reforms of four years ago add another dimension to this debate. These days, the majority of savers tend not to buy an annuity paying a guaranteed regular income when they want to start cashing in their funds, at least initially, preferring instead to draw money directly from their savings. In which case, you’ll need to have suitable investments in place for this period of your life. Before and after In other words, investing through a pension is now a two-phase process. In the first phase, you’re trying to build up as big a fund as possible for retirement – financial advisers call this the “accumulation” phase. Stage two – sometimes called “decumulation” in the jargon – is to invest in such a way that you can preserve and even build up further capital, while also taking an income from your savings. Those are two quite different objectives, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you need completely different investments before and after your planned retirement date. It’s often possible to use investments chosen primarily with capital growth in mind to generate an income. Equally, investments that generate generous amounts of income are often good options for growth, since you’ll typically be able to re-invest the income back into your savings. So, which investments might fit the bill? Well, in a survey published by the stockbroker AJ Bell recently, six of the 10 best-selling investment funds with pensions savers proved to be investment companies – even though there are far fewer of this type of fund around than unit trusts and other similar “open-ended221; funds. Investment companies appear to be punching well above their weight when it comes to pension savings. A fund for all seasons There are good reasons why smart pension savers are likely to be found using investment companies. Most obviously, independent analysis suggests these funds tend to produce bigger investment returns over the longer term. One study published by Cass Business School last summer showed investment companies had returned an average of 0.8 percentage points a year extra between 2000 and 2016; over 30 or 40 years of saving for retirement, that makes a massive difference. Once you reach the stage of drawing an income, moreover, investment companies can work very well. Unlike other types of investment fund, they’re allowed to keep back some of the income they earn on their underlying investments each year in order to fund pay-outs to investors in years when less income comes in. This means investment companies can make reliable – and often rising – income distributions to savers, which is useful if you’re trying to live off your investment income in retirement. In fact, there are now more than 40 investment companies that have raised their dividend in each of the past 10 years; in some cases, that record goes back 50 years. Save monthly Now that the new tax year is underway – 2019-20 began on 6 April – it’s important to think about how to use your pension savings allowance over the next year. The general rule is that you can invest up the value of your earnings or £40,000 (whichever is lower) in a pension each tax year, though the maximum is lower for very high earners. But even if you have no income at all, you can still put up to £3,600 into a pension each year. These sums sound out of reach to many savers but remember that you’ll receive tax relief on your contributions, reducing the cost. You may also be entitled to contributions from an employer. In any case, even small amounts of savings will add up over time, particularly if they’re well invested. Monthly savings schemes work really well with pensions. You’re investing consistently over an extended period, plus you get the benefit of a statistical quirk known as pound-cost averaging. The principle here is that your fixed monthly contribution buys more of any given investment in months when market prices have fallen, swelling your returns during the recovery period. The effect is to smooth out the ups and downs of the markets. Most investment companies offer monthly savings schemes, enabling you to invest as little as £25 at time. In many cases, they can arrange the pension wrapper on your behalf. Or, if you already have a pension set up, you can pick investment companies through an online fund supermarket.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
01/10/2019 17:55	Think we could easily see £5.50. To be honest am not massively concerned about the share price day to day and think it will track along with the market give or take. I bought these for their track record of increasing dividends for decades and with improved debt terms see no reason why that should not continue.	tim 3	Read Full Thread Reply
01/10/2019 15:04	tim 3 - 06 Sep 2019 - 09:11:44 - 348 of 362 MERCHANTS IT yld 6% - MRCH Yes thats partly at least due to gearing. Still think these are worth £5 plus moving forward. ........... nearly made the £5 how much is the plus ?	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
23/9/2019 20:37	The Merchant Trust presentation from our recent Manchester company seminar can be found in our members area here: hTTps://sharesoc.ning.com/xn/detail/6389471:Comment:54215 To access the presentation, you'll need to be a full member of ShareSoc, which is a not-for-profit organisation that supports individual shareholders and campaigns for shareholder rights. If you're not already a member you can join here: hTTps://www.sharesoc.org/membership/ Once you've joined, you'll receive an invitation to register for our "members network" private social network, from where you'll be able to access the presentation (and presentations on 100s of other meetings). If you're already a member and have any difficulty accessing the report, please do not hesitate to contact us here: hTTps://www.sharesoc.org/contact-us/	sharesoc	Read Full Thread Reply
17/9/2019 21:50	Touch wood, but the chaps at Merchants seem to be doing quite a good job of managing this Investment Trust? Been holding this for over three years now and have been very happy with the progress so far; hope they can continue to keep this up in future!! NSB	north sea boy	Read Full Thread Reply
17/9/2019 16:03	THE MERCHANTS TRUST PLC Half-Yearly Financial Report For the six months ended 31 July 2019 Highlights -- Dividends declared for the first six months of 2019/20 are 13.5p per share, up 4.7% on last year. -- Debt refinancing to lower the average interest cost to 3.5%. -- NAV total return* 7.4%, compared with 10.6% on the FTSE All-Share Index. -- Share Price total return 5.1%. -- Ordinary shares yield 5.3% at 485.0p, compared with 4.2% on the FTSE All-Share Index at the close of business on 13 September 2019. * Debt at market value Interim management report In this landmark year after celebrating the 130(th) anniversary of The Merchants Trust in February, I am proud to be writing to you as I start my tenure as Chairman. First of all I must thank Simon Fraser for his immense contribution to the trust and commitment to shareholders over the past decade. During that time, and including his nine years as Chairman, the trust has successfully navigated various market conditions, economic cycles and political upheavals, and, today, finds itself a leading option for investors within its peer group. On behalf of shareholders and the board I thank Simon for his valued stewardship of The Merchants Trust and wish him well in his future ventures. Half year results In the last published Annual Report shareholders received a report of a challenging year for equity markets, particularly in the final months of 2018. Fortunately, in the past six months investor confidence has returned, at least in select areas, and we ended the period in a more positive position. Over the six months to 31 July 2019, the company's net asset value (NAV) total return of 7.4% (with debt at market value), although positive, was adrift of a strong FTSE All-Share Index performance of 10.6%. This was predominantly due to the underperformance of the value oriented UK equity portfolio compared to the wider market. You will find a more in-depth explanation of this, as well as a description of the current polarised nature of the UK stock market, in the Investment Manager's Review below. A performance attribution analysis can also be found below. Renegotiation of the company's debt On 3 July 2019, the board announced that a three year revolving credit facility had been entered into which was to be used to repay early the company's borrowings from Fintrust Debenture PLC of GBP42 million at the beginning of August 2019. The additional cost of redeeming the debentures was GBP14.4m and this was funded from existing assets. This was part of an eighteen month strategy to restructure the company's debt profile and this refinancing has significantly lowered the company's finance cost. The company's weighted average interest rate on all borrowings has fallen from 8.5% in January 2018 to 6.0% at the half year end and following this latest refinancing exercise it is 3.5%. This has enhanced the company's earnings potential and your board believes it will improve the long-term capital returns for shareholders. The refinancing has also provided more flexibility in the company's borrowings by introducing an element of shorter term debt. Net earnings and dividends Earnings in the six months to 31 July 2019 have been strong at 16.1p per ordinary share (2018: 15.6p), an increase of 3.2% over the equivalent period in the previous year. The board has declared a second quarterly dividend of 6.8p per ordinary share, payable on 12 November 2019 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 4 October 2019. A Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) is available for this dividend and the relevant Election Date is 18 October 2019 and the ex-dividend date is 3 October 2019. Merchants Trust continues to be an AIC 'Dividend Hero', an elite group of investment trust companies that have increased their dividends each year for 20 years or more. The company's dividend has increased for 37 consecutive years and a high and growing yield remains a key objective of the company. The total distribution declared for the first half of 2019/20 is 13.5p, an increase of 4.7% on the same period last year (12.9p). The directors intend to at least maintain the quarterly dividend payments at 6.8p for the rest of the year, leading to a minimum annual dividend of 27.1p, an increase of 4.2%. The company's revenue reserves remain strong, and, as at 31 July 2019 were 28.8p per share (2018 - 26.9p). Net asset value As at 31 July 2019, the NAV per ordinary share (with debt at market value) was 493.2p. On a capital basis, the NAV per ordinary share (with debt at market value) increased by 4.6%, underperforming the benchmark return of 8.1%. The total return reflects both the change in NAV per ordinary share and the ordinary dividends paid. For the six months to 31 July 2019, the total return NAV per ordinary share increased by 7.4%, whilst the FTSE All-Share Index increased by 10.6%. Material events and transactions At the company's annual general meeting (AGM), held in May, all resolutions put to shareholders were passed. The third quarterly dividend of 6.5p per share was paid on 6 March 2019 to shareholders on the register on 1 February 2019. A final dividend of 6.6p per share was paid on 22 May 2019 to shareholders on the register on 22 April 2019. The total paid and declared for the year ended 31 January 2019 was 26.0p.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
15/9/2019 12:05	Look for growth: Tracking down trusts, funds and company shares that can grow dividend payouts is one of the keys to long-term returns and beating inflation I’m certainly not complaining about the share price gains, but the strong performance of the small selection of companies that Finsbury Growth & Income holds - combined with the compression effect of a low interest rate world - has pushed its published yield down over the years - even though it has increased dividend payouts. As a point of comparison, the trust’s current 1.7 per cent dividend yield is down from about 2.8 per cent when I first invested. Yet, the yield its shares offer new investors is not the one I get – mine is based on the roughly 350p I paid in spring 2012 - and my own number crunching revealed that based on last year’s 16.1p paid out, I am getting a 4.6 per cent yield. That’s pretty chunky and chimes with AJ Bell’s research, which looked at the dividend hero trusts over the past decade. It showed that investors who had invested in City of London in 2009, the dividend hero with the longest track record of 52 years, would now be earning a handsome 8 per cent yield based on the share price they bought at. The dividend heroes that yield more than 10% a decade later:...	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
11/9/2019 15:12	just in case anyone thinks it's easy, it isn't. the two year uptrend is plain to see, with hindsight but if u were thinking of taking profits, how long would u have waited ? all the dividend take points are shown.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
11/9/2019 12:49	THE MERCHANTS TRUST PLC TWENTY LARGEST EQUITY HOLDINGS AS AT 31 JULY 2006 Valuation Total Royal Dutch Shell £62,548,000 Oil and Gas Production price around £19.20 divi 71p. yield just under 4% since then I presume MRCH would have traded some Shell shares but since then on the core holding the dividend has also doubled so they are receiving a take of 8%, which u can tap into.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
11/9/2019 09:12	anyone lucky enough to buy MRCH at the bottom in 2009 at 225p (not me) received a dividend in the following year of 22.5P a yield of 10%. anyone brave enough to buy and sit thru the dips will soon have received all his capital back as dividends and a dividend stream for the rest of their natural at nil cost. last years dividend of 26p a yield of 11.5% on buying price. the holder of MRCH should have a gently increasing dividend take as long as a. he doesn't sell any shares b. MRCH don't change their dividend policy. a different discussion is should u sell any shares now the yield on current price is around 5.8% ? looking at the yield the answer is most probably no. looking at the capital gain, taking some profit looks tempting but it's your position your money. get rich slow, u need a lot of years for compound interest to grow but the sooner u start, the sooner u can start to get rich slow. GL	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
11/9/2019 07:41	I think the op means Mrch bought shell shares years ago at a lower price , so they get a higher yield , than if bought at today’s prices!	escapetohome	Read Full Thread Reply
11/9/2019 07:13	er no, the value of their Shell shares may have risen, but the yield on the current price is the same for everyone	mister md	Read Full Thread Reply
09/9/2019 14:19	MRCH should be one of your key building blocks. As the plan is never to sell, apart from top slicing, unless it changes its dividend policy, the price u pay is of little relevance. of course if MRCH falls after u buy the yield will increase and u can re-invest your dividends at a better yield. MRCH benefits from holding shares like Shell for years so the yield they receive is in advance of the Shell published yield.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
09/9/2019 14:15	The power of compounding CONTRIBUTOR WILLIAM MEADON Albert Einstein is widely credited with calling compounding “the most powerful force in the universe”. Whether the iconic genius ever uttered these words is debatable but there’s no doubting the point being made: compounding can have a huge impact. So, what is it and how does it work? In terms of investing, compounding refers to the process by which the earnings from assets are reinvested to generate additional future gains. Because further growth is generated from those earnings as well as the value of the original assets, an investment’s value can swell exponentially over time. While water and sun will grow a tree, fertiliser can take it to even greater heights – the same principle applies with compounding, with reinvesting acting as the fertiliser. The impact of time Because the effects of compounding are exponential they become stronger over time, so the second key factor after reinvesting your earnings is staying invested. The impact of a few additional years can be significant: for example, if you started saving aged 25 and invested £5000 a year in an investment that grew at an annual rate of 5%, you would have nearly £300,000 more 30 years later at the age of 65 than if you started at 35. As a result, a long-term outlook is vital to benefit properly from compounding, a strategy which I like to call the “get rich slow” approach. Harnessing the power of compounding with investment trusts The unique structure of an investment trust makes it ideally suited to this strategy: investment Trusts are closed-ended structures which have the advantage of being able to place some revenue in reserve during bumper years, and subsequently draw on this during more turbulent periods for the markets. Using these reserves, trusts are able to smooth the effects of volatility and provide consistent dividend payments over time – by reinvesting these dividend payments back into the trust, investors can ensure the effects of compounding are maximised. To demonstrate the success of this approach, if you had put £20,000 in an ISA 15 years ago and invested only the capital in the JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust, you could have put one child through university and helped them with a £12,000 first home deposit by now. This sounds impressive, until you realise that had you reinvested your earnings from the Trust, you could have put two children through university and helped them with a £15,000 first home deposit. However, investors must bear in mind that with every investment comes an element of risk, and that there are no guarantees on their capital returns. Staying in the game The third factor to be aware of is the potentially huge negative impact even a few days out of the market can have on the effects of compounding over time. The perils of market timing are well illustrated by the fact that those who committed £10,000 to the FTSE All Share in 1999 and remained fully invested until 2018 achieved an annualised total return of 5.1%; in contrast, someone who missed the best 30 market days within this period would have suffered a -5.1% loss. So, you can see that it really does pay to stay invested. The bottom line is that the longer you have to invest and the more committed your approach, the more effective compounding can be for you. By making a long-term investment through a trust like JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust plc, you can essentially do nothing, reinvest the income and let compounding do the rest. With diversified investments in large, income-generating British companies listed on the FTSE, JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust plc has successfully provided its stakeholders with consistent and growing dividends for 46 consecutive years. JPM	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
08/9/2019 21:56	Worth pointing out that they recently got rid of most of the very expensive debt that has held back the historic nav performance and lower interest costs going forward will benefit dividend paying ability.	shalder	Read Full Thread Reply
08/9/2019 21:06	The Merchants Trust present at our next Manchester growth company seminar on Tuesday which may be of interest to current shareholders and potential investors: hTTps://www.sharesoc.org/events/sharesoc-growth-company-seminar-in-manchester-10-september-2019/	sharesoc	Read Full Thread Reply
06/9/2019 09:11	Yes thats partly at least due to gearing. Still think these are worth £5 plus moving forward.	tim 3	Read Full Thread Reply
06/9/2019 08:48	that's one reason lots of people will not buy yield, as although they can bank a yield around 5%, the share falls 20% and they are showing a loss. quite a hurdle for the company to pay out plus 5% without the share price falling. when the market rises the share price follows but when the market falls the mmakers protect their book by cutting the price faster than the fall. still a great share for a long term holding, for top slicing and buying back lower down and/or investing the dividends back into the market.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
06/9/2019 07:35	yep, that boat has sailed. although one day it will be a buy and u only need one similar share to 'make' your portfolio.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
05/9/2019 20:32	Yes, agreed. Think Scottish Mortgage will be at the bottom of this list when the tide goes out though!	topvest	Read Full Thread Reply
05/9/2019 14:21	Dividend Heroes. if u are looking for a growth trust, guess MRCH is not for u. if u are looking for a trust that pays reliable dividends and some growth guess it's one of the better yielding shares. of course when the market falls the dividend is important as u can re-invest at some great yields.	chart trader2000	Read Full Thread Reply
30/8/2019 11:52	Merchants Trust present at our next Manchester growth company seminar on the 10th September which may be of interest to current shareholders and potential investors: hTTps://www.sharesoc.org/events/sharesoc-growth-company-seminar-in-manchester-10-september-2019/	sharesoc	Read Full Thread Reply
27/8/2019 20:21	Interested in anyones views on these compared with a FTSE index tracker, pro's and cons.Over the longer periods (5,10 years) the trackers seem to have outperformed but of course does not mean that will continue in the future.	tim 3	Read Full Thread Reply
27/8/2019 20:07	Thanks a great they certainly seem to take a very sensible and cautious view to investing and good to see debt coming down. My gut feel is these are good value up to £5 and anything under is a long term buy but nav has pulled them down recently.	tim 3	Read Full Thread Reply

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