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MRCH Merchants Trust Plc

532.00
3.00 (0.57%)
28 Mar 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
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
  3.00 0.57% 532.00 533.00 536.00 534.00 531.00 532.00 360,093 16:35:21
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
Trust,ex Ed,religious,charty 48.86M 40.19M 0.2699 19.75 793.52M
Merchants Trust Plc is listed in the Trust,ex Ed,religious,charty sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker MRCH. The last closing price for Merchants was 529p. Over the last year, Merchants shares have traded in a share price range of 477.00p to 588.00p.

Merchants currently has 148,877,887 shares in issue. The market capitalisation of Merchants is £793.52 million. Merchants has a price to earnings ratio (PE ratio) of 19.75.

Merchants Share Discussion Threads

Showing 526 to 542 of 2925 messages
Chat Pages: Latest  33  32  31  30  29  28  27  26  25  24  23  22  Older
DateSubjectAuthorDiscuss
26/4/2020
22:30
Hi Tim3
I agree the exposure to the US market over recent years has been beneficial. The international fund I alluded to in my post was the Legal&General International Index trust/fund. It’s delivered good results for me over a number of years. The only downside for me is I have to physically sell units to provide income unlike shares and investment trusts which automatically pay a dividend. I think I have a psychological barrier to selling! I get around this with my investment in Fundsmith where I invest directly with them and you can set up regular payments which as they are done automatically I seem to be able to cope with better!!! That’s another fund that’s delivered excellent results over many years.

zac0_4
26/4/2020
21:52
Hi zac

You make a very good point one I have observed myself.

I think one of the reasons the international index funds have beaten is because they have a stronger exposure to the US market than many investment trusts.

I have done a fair bit of research on US index funds/ETF's and compared their performance to investment trusts over various time periods (trust net have some good charts for this)not just the recent boom years and they have outperformed in terms of total performance even with dividends reinvested compared to most investment trusts over a wide range of time periods.

I have used the recent falls to adjust my portfolio to add some exposure to S&P trackers.I think if it crashes its highly likely it will bring most other markets down with it but when it outperforms it seems to leave the others behind.

Maybe I have missed something or got my figures wrong would be interested in others views.

tim 3
26/4/2020
21:07
I hold a number of Investment Trusts, Individual dividend paying shares and a number of funds (OEICS). I'm drawn to the trusts and individual shares because of the dividend payments but can't help but think I'd be better off simply investing in funds and drawing down on a quarterly basis an amount equivalent to an average dividend payment. Total returns look far better from a simple international index fund than from all my investment trusts (HFEL, EDIN, HHI, Merchants). Merchants is a recent acquisition. I'd welcome any constructive comments.
zac0_4
26/4/2020
09:59
Hello goldpig. I have made big gains and losses. my biggest gain ever was in Henderson far east income. I got into that about a year after the Asian currency crisis. Biggest losses 9/11 it all went pretty much. The financial situation was a non-issue as far as that event goes.
I like investment trusts but at the end of the day all you are buying is a basket of shares. No different to a share in a downturn.
Where my opinion differs to a few on here. There isn't going to be a return to growth and nor will the dividend be there. I seriously think we are going into a 5 year depression.
The debt levels coupled with the debt of the 2008 financial crisis is going to be just too much.
I will be watching property very closely. The collateralized debt obligations the bulk of which were linked to mortgages triggered the 2008 financial crisis. Complicated debt obfuscation will trigger the coming crisis too.
I still am totally absorbed by the markets a lifelong addiction for me.
I am out for the next 10 months at least.
Those that have the nous to trade debt contracts, they will make good money. The rest will be lucky to keep their head above water.
If I am correct ???? :-). I will be looking closely at MRCH, HHI, HDIV, HFE, BP, NWF, RFX . but a lot cheaper than they are today.
Regards All

superiorshares
25/4/2020
19:06
Hi Tim 3,

Absolutely correct!

Goldpig

goldpiguk
25/4/2020
19:00
Sounds like me made a lot of money on tech shares in the early days thought for a while I had the Midas touch but soon realised it was unsustainable and unlike you I gave it all back.Thing is with that type of higher risk investment unless you are very good and very disciplined the odds are stacked against you and it's only a matter of time before things go wrong.I used to follow a few of the AIM boards and most on there just seemed to buy more and more as the price trends down them disappear presumably broke.These days I realise there is no holy grail and am much more conservative/ boring with my investing.
tim 3
25/4/2020
18:44
Hi Superiorshares,

I made some very large profits on several speculative shares in my ISA and sold out. I originally used my ISA for trading shares but changed my Investment strategy and switched to focusing on income.

I have made good profits (and losses) on ISA held shares since then. In the last couple of years I have concluded Investment Trusts are the ideal vehicle to hold within an ISA. Many provide good dividends, diversification of holdings, no potential rights issue problems and from a personal perpective have given me a more relaxed attitude to investing. The problem with taking big positions in speculative shares is that you are only as good as your last investment decision. I quit this style of investing while I was well ahead.

My biggest ISA success was with Victoria Oil and Gas (VOG). Link to my post from 2015 regarding this below. I also had a great profit on WLFE. I think WLFE went bust and I know VOG is in danger of going that way.



Goldpig

goldpiguk
25/4/2020
16:02
Goldpig how did your income go from o in 2015 to 12000 in 2020. You could only put 100,000 into isa in those years. To get that yield you will have to have well in excess of 200 grand accumulated. Unless you was investing before 2015 in zero dividend growth stocks and made the money that way. But if you was good at stockpicking you certainly wouldn't bother with high yielding investment trusts. I have made mistake s been trading since 1993. This is my opinion , in 12 months time people won't be saying " what a buying opportunity that was" they will be saying " can you believe how low these shares have gone " . I might be completely wrong of course.
superiorshares
25/4/2020
14:56
Hi Superiorshares,

If you look back to the financial crisis of 2008, many IT's share prices recovered rather more rapidly than the overall market. In that crisis, most IT's were hit by companies cutting dividends, but not to the extent IT's dividends were being paid exclusively from reserves. The same looks true in this crisis which is worse; but nearly 75% of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies are still paying dividends, so IT's are highly unlikely to run down their reserves.

In the 2008 crisis well run trusts used their ability to take on more gearing, rebalance their portfolios and take advantage of buying quality shares that had been beaten down in the market sell off. Some trusts also use options as a means of generating revenue and others issue new shares above NAV value, as I think MRCH have been doing.

Much research has been done about discounts/premiums in IT's and it continues to mystify many academics. However, if a large discount were to open up in MRCH I would use the opportunity to increase my holding.

Obviously, with the benefit of hindsight it would have been great if I had sold MRCH in January and bought back in March. A few lucky investors may have done this, I suspect more by chance, than predicting the impact of the 'coronavirus crisis'.

My ISA portfolio is an income portfolio. I have no intention of actively trading IT's, but will use market movements to my advantage building a rising dividend income. Of course I have made mistakes along the way; we all do! However, in April 2015 my ISA income was £0 a year. 2020 will not be all I envisaged, but my income should be £11,000-£12,000. The direction of travel is still looking good!

Goldpig

goldpiguk
25/4/2020
14:05
PS was watching one of the finance types on squawk box. I will quote him
" a value play without the dividend is a value trap ".
Regards

superiorshares
25/4/2020
12:51
Some quality posters on here as always.

I think many and I include myself in this bought mrch for income thinking that although the share will go up and down if they maintain their long record of increasing dividends the month to month movement of the share price is less important because you still get that payment and in the longer term the share price has always come back to make new highs.

Of course total return is the most important thing but for income seekers this principle kind of works and is quite easy to get your head round.

tim 3
25/4/2020
10:50
Your philosophy of correct timing is certainly that which i apply to * shares * , but i like to view ITS as something to steadily accumulate over the long term, and not needing to worry so much over timing.
escapetohome
25/4/2020
10:46
Then ill retain my existing holding

And wait for the 15% discount opportunity to pick up more then.

escapetohome
24/4/2020
20:24
Goldpig - thank you so much for that detailed response.

Interesting that you are happy to hold when an IT moves to a premium; I guess it depends on your outlook and I share your long term view - myself holding for income in a SIPP.

My income portfolio has several ITs including some private equity (PEY and SLPE). Other ITs held are DIG, EDIN, MRCH, SHRS, TMPL. Plus some good income earners such as AZN. PHNX, PNN, ULVR. Couple of preference shares also. None of which provide an adrenaline rush but help ensure better sleep at night! Particularly in these unusual times. Your comments on taxation are food for thought....

Again, my gratitude to you for kindly giving your time and insights.

bluemango
24/4/2020
17:36
Hi bluemango,

I accumulated my holding in MRCH (and all other IT's within my ISA) with the intention of holding them for the long term.

I prefer to build a holding when a trust stands at a good discount to NAV and there are plenty of these at the moment. I had been looking at EDIN for several months and in the short to medium term think they will outperform MRCH.

At the time I built my holding in MRCH, then DIG and now EDIN they were all within a year or two of replacing high cost debt, which made them attractive purchases. EDIN has a £100 million pound debenture falling due in the autumn of 2022. From memory it is paying over £7 million a year and should be able to save millions of pounds a year when it is replaced, giving it greater scope for raising/maintaining dividends.

One trust I have always had an eye on is City of London Investment Trust (CTY), but have never bought any due to their premium to NAV. I am happy to continue holding shares in a trust if it moves to a premium.

As far as the banks are concerned I sold down my shares in LLOY and HSBA within my ISA, although I retained a large holding in LLOY and BARC in certificated form.

MY ISA portfolio is for income generation and I think just over 25% of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies have now cut/suspended their dividend, which is bound to impact income for all IT's. In due course, these companies will have scope to pay out dividends again so in the long term IT's will benefit from retaining their holdings.

At the moment I am more concerned about building a more diverse income portfolio, especially outside the UK. After the Coronavirus crisis is over how will UK taxation change?

Will UK companies have to pay much higher taxes? Will there be changes to tax treatment of income from UK companies; for instance taxing dividends at source. One thing I think we can say for sure is that taxation will rise significantly. That is the point when I will review my holdings in MRCH, DIG and EDIN.

Goldpig

goldpiguk
24/4/2020
12:08
Goldpig, may I ask are you still happy with MRCH, given the premium, and exposure to companies eg banks which have suspended dividends? Personally would be happy if they managed to just maintain dividend at current level for foreseeable future. Yes they've got a proud record of increases but these are extraordinary times.
bluemango
18/4/2020
09:53
Hi Poikka,

Dividend income is accounted for in the Annual Report I looked at based on the entire c.117 million shares in issue. As income dividends are only paid out on about c.87.1 million shares income element is flattered.

If we are in an extended bear market capital payments to "B" shareholders suggest growth in capital values will suffer more than in a conventional Investment Trust. If NAV of the trust falls below £65 million it will also breach its banking covenants.

I took a quick look at the incorporation documents (Company House) and there are provisions for having only one class of share. In the short term this looks unlikely, but the structure of the company is best suited to a more sophisticated investor holding the shares outside an ISA or SIPP.

As a speculative investment it could do well in the short term, but the company structure is not one with long term appeal for inclusion in my ISA. There are many IT's with far better prospects.

Goldpig

goldpiguk
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