REG - Franklin Global Tst - Half-year Report
03/10/2025 12:30
For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20251003:nRSC0419Ca&default-theme=true
RNS Number : 0419C Franklin Global Trust PLC 03 October 2025
Franklin Global Trust plc
Legal Entity Identifier: 549300RKB85NFVSTBM94
Half-yearly report - six months to 31 July 2025
A copy of the Half-yearly report for the six months to 31 July 2025 has been
submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for
inspection.
A copy of the Half-yearly report can be downloaded at
www.franklinglobaltrust.com (http://www.franklinglobaltrust.com) .
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Key data Six months ended Six months ended
31 July 2025 31 July 2024
Net asset value per share ('NAV') total return(1,2) (4.1%) 4.4%
MSCI All Country World index (benchmark) total return(1) 1.3% 11.5%
Share price total return(1) (5.9%) 5.8%
Ongoing charges (as a percentage of shareholders' funds)(4) 0.62% 0.64%
Revenue return per share(5) 1.41p 1.52p
Dividend per share 1.80p 1.80p
Past performance is not a guide to future returns. All returns are total
returns unless otherwise stated.
Source: Franklin Templeton.
(1)Total return is the combined effect of the rise and fall in the share
price, net asset value or benchmark together with any dividend paid. See the
Half-yearly report for more details on Alternative Performance Measures.
(2)The net asset value per share total return is calculated using the cum
income net asset value with dividends reinvested on the ex-dividend date. This
is an Alternative Performance Measure, see the Half-yearly report for more
details.
(3)The benchmark with effect from 1 February 2020 is the MSCI All Country
World index. Prior to this, the benchmark was the FTSE World index to 31
January 2020. Prior to this, the benchmark was the FTSE All-Share to 31 May
2011.
(4)Ongoing charges (as a percentage of shareholders' funds) are calculated
using average net assets over the period. The ongoing charges figure has been
calculated in line with the Association of Investment Companies ('AIC')
recommended methodology. This is an Alternative Performance Measure, see the
Half-yearly report for more details.
(5)For details of calculation, refer to note 3.
INTERIM MANAGEMENT REPORT
CHAIR'S STATEMENT
Dear shareholder,
Investment performance and management arrangements
The six months from the end of January to the end of July 2025 were a volatile
period, with an initially calm few weeks in markets disrupted by US President
Trump's announcement of tariffs on 2 April 2025. Whilst the intention to
impose tariffs was signalled in advance, both the number of countries affected
and the level of tariffs were higher than expected. Stock markets initially
fell sharply, before staging a recovery as some of the proposals were rolled
back and countries and regional blocs sought to negotiate with the US. Over
the latter part of the summer a degree of calmness has returned and markets
have been more stable. It has been an environment in which many active
managers have failed to match the returns achieved by global indices.
The Company's investment return in the period was disappointing at -4.1%
versus our benchmark index return of +1.3%. Against this backdrop, as
mentioned previously, the Board has made a number of changes. Firstly,
Jonathan Curtis, the Chief Investment Officer of Franklin Equity Group ('FEG')
became the co-manager of the Company's portfolio alongside Zehrid Osmani with
effect from 12 July 2025. Jonathan has over 30 years of experience in the
industry. In his role as executive vice president and Chief Investment Officer
of FEG he has oversight of investment teams who manage equity and convertibles
strategies, along with FEG's research and venture capital teams. Headquartered
in the middle of Silicon Valley, FEG offers in-depth expertise in managing
global, US and sector-specific strategies across the style and capitalisation
spectrum. The team has more than £110 billion in assets under management as
of 31 December 2024 and over 60 investment professionals. Secondly the Board
agreed a cut in management fee with the manager from 0.45% to 0.40% of assets
with effect from 1 March 2025. This follows on from two previous fee
improvements negotiated by the Board which became effective on 1 February 2021
and 1 July 2022. Following these changes the Board continues to liaise with
large shareholders and monitor performance extremely closely.
Annual General Meeting ('AGM')
Each resolution at the Company's Annual General Meeting on Thursday 19 June
2025 was passed by a large majority and I would like to thank shareholders for
their support.
Zero discount policy
The Company operates a zero discount policy with the objective of providing
shareholders, in normal market conditions, with assurance that the Company's
share price is in continuing alignment with the prevailing net asset value per
share ('NAV') and liquidity so that investors can buy or sell as many shares
as they wish at a price which is not significantly different from the NAV.
This involves the Company both buying back shares and reissuing shares from
Treasury or issuing new shares. Shares bought back as part of this policy are
normally held in Treasury and reissued when demand exists which the market
cannot supply.
The maximum authority that shareholders can grant to buy back shares is 14.99%
of the shares in issue on the day of a general meeting. This authority was
duly renewed at the Company's AGM in June. A further General Meeting was held
on 24 September, at which the directors were granted powers for the Company to
buy back up to a further 7,752,649 shares.
Income and dividends
Net revenue earnings per share for the six months amounted to 1.41 pence per
share. Capital growth is the primary focus of our investment managers and the
investment strategy is not constrained by any income target. Nevertheless,
the Board recognises that dividends are important for many shareholders and
hence continues to maintain the Company's dividend in line with previous
levels. Dividends have historically been paid quarterly and in recent years
the Company has paid three interim dividends of 0.9 pence per share and a
fourth interim dividend of 1.5 pence per share for each financial year. The
Company paid a first interim dividend for the current financial year of 0.9
pence per share on 25 July 2025 and will pay a second interim dividend of 0.9
pence per share on 24 October 2025, maintaining the same level as the last
financial year.
Stay in touch
Visit our new website at www.franklinglobaltrust.com where you can see the
latest information, a variety of updates from the co-managers, stock story
videos that showcase companies in our portfolio, webinars, events and much
more. Our monthly emails deliver all of the updates to your inbox, so I
recommend you subscribe today if you have not already done so. The Board is
always interested to hear shareholders' views. Please contact me if you have
any questions or points regarding your Company by email at
ftcosec@franklintempleton.com (mailto:ftcosec@franklintempleton.com) .
Outlook
Markets have remained stronger than many had predicted given the many
challenges they have faced. We will continue to concentrate on the medium to
longer term prospects and focus on ensuring the Company is correctly
positioned to benefit from them.
Christopher Metcalfe
Chair
3 October 2025
MANAGERS' REVIEW
Over the first half of the financial year in total, the MSCI World Index was
up by +1.3%, but this relatively small change masks the volatility induced by
policy uncertainty. In the context of extreme volatility, the Company's NAV
total return was down by -4.1%, as our style of investing and sectoral
exposure were not favourable.
The strongest performing sectors during the period were Technology,
Industrials and Utilities, all up by +8%, whilst the weakest performing
sectors were Health Care (-13%) and Consumer Discretionary (-8%), followed by
Energy and Consumer Staples (both down -1%). Our exposure to the Health Care
sector was a significant detractor, with the sector continuing to underperform
on concerns around tariffs and funding cuts in the US. Our exposure to
Consumer Discretionary stocks also weighed on returns in light of an
increasingly uncertain consumer environment in the near term. For both
sectors, we have focused on companies that are better placed to capture
structural growth opportunities, and/or that have an ability to better
navigate the headwinds faced by the sectors in which they operate.
Our long-term investment approach continues to focus on finding companies that
are undervalued, and that are well positioned to capture long-term structural
growth opportunities that we foresee within our three mega-trends of
Demographic Changes, Future of Technology and Resource Scarcity. Within these
three mega-trends, we currently favour three thematic areas where we foresee
seismic shifts happening: (i) energy transition, (ii) ageing population, and
(iii) artificial intelligence ('AI').
On the energy transition theme, the structural growth drivers that we foresee
are related to the move towards more green and alternative energy sources as
the world continues its effort to decarbonise, and as parts of the world are
continuing to diversify their energy sources. Related to that is the drive to
build energy-efficient infrastructure, such as smarter and more insulated
buildings. Finally, electric transportation continues to play an important
role within this seismic thematic shift, this being not only electric
vehicles, but also the development of more high-speed electric railways around
the world.
On the ageing population front, as the birth rate decreases many regions are
seeing a more rapidly ageing population. There is then a growing need for more
healthcare infrastructure to tackle the growing incidence of age-related
diseases, notably what we have labelled as the key 21(st) century diseases in
our thematic framework, which are cancers, diabetes and obesity. As a result,
our exposure in the Health Care sector is to a diverse group of companies that
give us good exposure to the various structural dynamics that we foresee
within this area.
We remain overweight Health Care on the basis of what we see as improving
fundamentals and attractive valuations with, in our view, prices
over-compensating for political risk. Over the year to date, our holdings in
Health Care have comparatively strong earnings momentum relative to the market
as a whole. Excluding currency that has been a drag on ex-US names such as
AstraZeneca, there have been upgrades to underlying expectations across the
holdings we have in Health Care. The exceptions are Novo Nordisk which we
discuss in more detail below, and CSL which has subsequently issued a warning
related to unexpected and short-lived competitive pressures. Despite this, the
broader sector now trades at its lowest valuation to the global index for 20
years. The market is struggling to price in the risk from issues such as
tariffs on pharmaceuticals in the US, drug pricing reform and threats to
public and private research funding. In our view, this uncertainty is an
opportunity as various lead indicators are tracking positively or are at low
points. Further, specific concerns, such as cuts to NIH (US government
funding) are not materialising as negatively as feared. While risk remains, we
believe that announcements of tariffs on countries and on semiconductors
suggest that specific tariffs on pharmaceuticals will not be as high as
feared, provided that targeted companies invest in re-shoring to the US.
Further, the threatened pricing reforms are extremely difficult to achieve in
practice as bipartisan legislative change that will be extensively litigated
against will be required. At the same time, early stage biotech funding
appears to have moved beyond its low point, which is reflected in growing
clinical trial starts and increasing levels of mergers and acquisitions.
Nearly $300bn of investments in manufacturing and research capacity by
pharmaceutical companies re-shoring to the US are also supportive, albeit
there is some double counting with previously planned investments. The upshot
should be that for names exposed to the drug development supply chain such as
Sartorius Stedim and Veeva Systems, the operating backdrop is stable to
improving, while clarity around the aforementioned overhangs should further
accelerate their revenues. For the direct drug exposure in the portfolio we
expect the stocks to re-rate as the market gains clarity on US government
policy whilst earnings remain materially more resilient than implied by
current share prices.
We expect the artificial intelligence theme to continue for many years, if not
decades. Robotics & Automation are likely to continue to be growth areas,
which will further be boosted by the advance of AI. The use of the metaverse
is also likely to generate attractive opportunities with the help of AI.
Quantum computing is likely to continue to grow from a low base, and will both
accelerate progress and benefit from AI. Cloud infrastructure investment
continues to grow at a high pace, to build the capacity required for AI.
This is fuelling a significant investment cycle, to which we have a good level
of exposure. Cyber security is also likely to become a more important
strategic focal point for corporates, as AI increases the threats and drives
the imperative of more investment in this area. AI also has the potential to
increase technological and geopolitical fragmentation, which remains an
important theme within this seismic thematic shift for us. The portfolio has a
sizeable exposure to semiconductor companies that are likely to benefit from
the increased spending required in infrastructure and hardware in order to
harness AI, with positions in names such as Nvidia, ASML, Cadence Design
Systems and BE Semiconductors. The increased spending is illustrated through
the more than doubling in announced capital investment plans from c.$190bn in
2023, to over c.$440bn estimated spend in 2025, and over $500bn in 2026, based
on our internal forecasts.
Portfolio Review
We have continued to review our exposures to stocks in the portfolio and have
been stress-testing our degree of conviction in each of the names, as we
always do, to ensure that we maintain high conviction over our long term-time
horizon in the stocks which we hold. The portfolio activity listed below over
the last six months captures the actions that we have taken on the back of
that ongoing stress-testing of convictions, to ensure that we expose our
shareholders to the companies where we have the highest conviction, and where
we see supportive growth and returns profiles over a long-term time horizon,
which we define as 5-15 years.
Stock Contributors:
Nvidia's performance in the first half of 2025 reflected an inflection in AI
investment. The launch and rapid adoption of the Blackwell architecture
aligned with a step-up in hyperscaler and sovereign AI infrastructure
spending, reinforced the company's leadership position. Emerging sovereign AI
programs from the Middle East to Europe are expanding an addressable market
beyond traditional sources of demand for Nvidia's products. The position was a
significant positive contributor to portfolio returns over the period.
Microsoft - From end-January to end-July, Microsoft's share price performed
strongly, mainly because quarterly results which were released on 30 April
signalled a clear inflection in growth of the Azure cloud computing platform.
Management highlighted accelerating demand for AI-driven cloud services, with
Azure's AI workloads contributing materially to year-on-year expansion. The
quarterly update eased worries about a prolonged slowdown, prompted a
re-rating and was underpinned by healthier commercial demand indicators such
as bookings and remaining performance obligations. Positive follow-through in
subsequent updates into late July reinforced the view that AI adoption is
growing in scale on Microsoft's platform, keeping sentiment-and the
shares-well supported.
L'Oreal - In the first half, L'Oréal delivered robust performance, with
results broadly in-line with expectations and underscoring the company's
ability to navigate a complex operating environment. Despite ongoing
challenges in markets like China, the business overall has demonstrated growth
and resilience, supported by the breadth and balance of its global portfolio.
This solid performance has reassured investors, particularly as L'Oréal
continues to outpace weaker market growth and gain share in key product
categories. Mass beauty outperformed expectations in the most recently
announced results, fuelled by sustained consumer demand and successful product
launches. North America was the strongest of the regions but North Asia
continued to be weaker than expected. Despite this more challenging
environment, operating profit was ahead of the market's expectations,
demonstrating the resilience of the business.
Stock Detractors:
Novo Nordisk's share price was weak in the period after it issued an
unexpected profit warning and announced the conclusion of its search for a new
CEO, appointing an internal candidate, head of International Markets Mike
Doustdar. Despite announcing results for the first half of 2025 that came
broadly in-line with expectations, it became apparent that Novo Nordisk's
assumptions for the second half were based on a set of overly ambitious
premises. Novo Nordisk had assumed that as its supply issues in 2024 were
addressed, alternative versions of its key obesity and diabetes drugs would
exit the market as their temporary exemptions, granted by the FDA during a
period of drug shortage, were removed. At the same time, Novo Nordisk had
assumed that they would recover market share from Eli Lilly in the US at a
greater rate than has happened over the year to date. In our view, Novo
Nordisk had misunderstood that this category of pharmaceuticals is closer to a
consumer health market than a traditional disease area such as oncology, and
had therefore focused its messaging too much around health points such as
cardiovascular outcomes rather than weight loss, which has been the key driver
of demand. We believe that this has now been recognised by senior appointments
with commercial and marketing backgrounds. While we have seen 9 months of poor
execution from Novo Nordisk, we have reviewed the stock and concluded that the
market now assumes overly negative views of Novo Nordisk's pipeline of drugs
and market share over the long term. As such, we believe the share price is
overly discounting negative outcomes and we have retained our position.
Lululemon underperformed the market due to weak US performance, highlighted in
both its quarterly results released in March and most recently at the
beginning of June. This weakness has persisted beyond management expectations.
Unhelpfully, the most recent results also raise concerns about growth in
China. Further, the company has significant exposure to tariffs announced on
2(nd) April by the US administration, as it sources significantly from south
east Asia. The impact of the tariffs has also called into question the
strength of US consumer confidence. During the period, and in light of the
weak results, we took action and exited the stock on concerns of further
potential headwinds in the US business.
Deckers surprised and disappointed the market in January 2025, posting solid
quarterly results but guiding investors to expect returns significantly below
market expectations, which led to a significant share price sell off. This
pattern continued at the full year results in May, as it became clear that
HOKA, a key brand for Deckers, has seen impacts to its US growth due to its
market channel mix and execution issues with transitioning its core franchises
to new models. We believe that growth in the US business should improve in due
course as inventory works through and new products gain traction. We have also
seen volatility driven by the US administration's implementation of tariffs,
which will have a significant impact on this business given its sourcing model
from south east Asia. We think that today's market valuation significantly
reflects the balance of these risks. We continue to believe that HOKA is a
strong and underpenetrated brand with excellent traction and a differentiated
offering, whilst UGG has been significantly rejuvenated by current management
and is being run to deliver more sustainable compounding growth.
Portfolio Activity
We purchased AstraZeneca during the period, funded by exiting Illumina. We
forecast AstraZeneca to deliver sales growth ahead of the peer group, with
industry leading reported margin expansion while cash conversion is expected
to improve materially. We believe that the current share price overly
discounts risk to the China franchise and, in effect, ascribes no value to the
company's drug development pipeline. We expect events throughout the rest of
2025 to mitigate these concerns.
We added Visa to our holdings to increase exposure to the credit card
companies, which is an area that we favour over the long term. Visa operates
the world's largest payment network in a duopoly industry, its primary
business being to process transactions made with its cards. Visa's growth is
driven by the secular trend of digital payments, with other areas of
value-added such as payment security becoming a meaningful growth driver over
time. Visa should be able to leverage its network and data base which it has
established over decades. Visa operates a capital-light model with a high and
expanding return on capital. Visa has demonstrated resiliency through
macroeconomic cycles and is often seen as a beneficiary of inflation.
We initiated small positions in Alibaba and Tencent. China is showing an
ability to continue to innovate after the announcement of the Deepseek AI
tool. The country's government also has levers to pull through internal fiscal
and monetary policy measures, to navigate the increased macroeconomic
uncertainty. The tariff tensions with the US are an important focal point,
with the potential for de-escalation that could support an equity market that
is relatively inexpensive in our view. We think that Alibaba is a business
with true scale and market share dominance and which has been languishing
after having been labelled non-investable and ex-growth. Whilst many of the
risks remain, management tone has notably changed. Further, the restructured
business has much tighter capital allocation and focus on growth and returns.
Tencent taps into the AI theme in China and adds geographic diversification.
Its market leading position in social media in China and leading position in
gaming globally put it in a strong position to leverage AI. Tencent can
leverage AI in multiple ways: improving advertising allocation; broadening its
total addressable market by enabling it to offer content creation and
advertising campaign creation; and supporting more efficient production of
games.
We exited Croda, as the company has seen tough trading conditions in the last
couple of years, management credibility has been undermined and we have a lack
of visibility on the pace of any recovery. We also sold out of the balance of
our position in Kering, as visibility is low on the timeframe to see a
recovery. We exited Illumina given that earnings downgrades are leading to no
top line growth over the next couple of years. We sold out of Hexagon and
Coloplast where conviction has been weakening. Finally, we sold out of
Lululemon, as described above.
Outlook
With the ongoing policy announcements by the US administration and continuing
change on tariffs, the economic and business outlooks carry a high degree of
uncertainty. Our key macroeconomic concerns can be bundled into three aspects:
(i) economic growth is at risk of weakening, as tariffs weigh on consumer and
business confidence, (ii) stickier inflation, related to ongoing elevated wage
growth and tariffs, leading to central banks being restricted in the magnitude
of interest rate cuts, and (iii) elevated budget deficits and high debt
levels, which could lead to lower longer-term economic growth potential. We
see downside risk to economic growth in the US, Europe and in China/Asia,
whilst limited fiscal headroom in most of these areas means that governments
will have limited room for manoeuvre in growth initiatives.
Given the macroeconomic picture that we are depicting, we continue to focus on
companies with pricing power, resilient business models, solid balance sheets,
and companies that have exposure to structural growth prospects.
The thematics that we continue to favour are (1) energy transition, (2) ageing
population, both of which are supported by (3) the AI theme, as an enabler or
a drawer of resources but closely monitoring for signs of excessive
expenditure on AI.
Zehrid Osmani and Jonathan Curtis
Co-portfolio Managers
Franklin Global Trust plc
3 October 2025
PORTFOLIO SUMMARY
By sector
31 July 2025 31 January 2025 MSCI All Country World index %
31 July 2025 MSCI All Country World index % 31 January 2025
Company % Company %
Information Technology 34.8 27.2 30.7 24.9
Health Care 23.4 8.6 25.7 9.9
Consumer Discretionary 11.8 10.2 14.7 11.5
Financials 9.2 17.4 9.7 17.2
Communication Services 6.0 8.4 4.1 8.6
Industrials 5.7 11.1 5.7 10.3
Materials 4.7 3.4 6.0 3.5
Consumer Staples 4.4 5.6 3.4 5.8
Energy - 3.5 - 3.8
Utilities - 2.6 - 2.5
Real Estate - 2.0 - 2.0
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
By asset class
31 July 2025 % 31 January 2025 %
Equities 100.5 99.2
Cash (0.5) 0.8
100.0 100.0
Portfolio distribution by region
31 July 2025 31 January 2025 MSCI All Country World index %
31 July 2025 MSCI All Country World index % 31 January 2025
Company % Company %
North America 57.1 69.2 56.8 69.1
Developed Europe 38.2 14.4 40.8 13.9
Global Emerging Markets 2.4 8.2 - 9.7
Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan 2.3 2.7 2.4 2.3
Japan - 5.3 - 4.8
Middle East - 0.2 - 0.2
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Largest 10 holdings
31 July 2025 31 July 2025 31 January 2025 31 January 2025
Market value % of total Market value % of total
£000 portfolio £000 portfolio
Microsoft 18,609 9.4 12,515 5.4
Nvidia 17,110 8.6 14,930 6.5
Linde 9,238 4.7 10,645 4.6
Meta Platforms 8,986 4.5 9,519 4.1
L'Oreal 8,734 4.4 7,729 3.4
Ferrari 8,712 4.4 10,187 4.4
Mastercard 8,415 4.2 9,820 4.3
ResMed 7,506 3.8 7,756 3.4
Veeva Systems 6,968 3.5 6,797 2.9
Cadence Design Systems 6,743 3.4 6,550 2.8
GOVERNANCE
Risk and mitigation
The principal long-term risks facing the Company are unchanged since the date
of the Annual Report for the year to 31 January 2025, as set out on pages 30
and 31 of that report.
The Company's business model is longstanding and resilient to most of the
short-term operational uncertainties that it faces. The Board believes these
are effectively mitigated by the internal controls established by the Board
and by the AIFM, Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management Limited, and
their combined oversight of the investment managers. The Company's principal
risks and uncertainties are therefore largely long-term and driven by the
inherent uncertainties of investing in global equity markets. The Board's
process seeks to mitigate known risks and to identify new risks as they
emerge. The Board's planned mitigation measures are described in the most
recent Annual Report. However, it is recognised that the likelihood and
timing of crystallisation of some risks cannot be predicted in advance and the
Board then relies on professional management, effective systems and
communication to mitigate these risks as and when they arise.
The Board identified the following principal risks to the Company in the
Annual Report:
• Sustained investment underperformance
• Material decline in market capitalisation of the
Company
• Loss of s1158-9 tax status
Following the ongoing assessment of the principal and emerging risks facing
the Company, and its current position, the Board is confident that the Company
will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall
due. The Board believes that the processes of internal control that the
Company has adopted and oversight by the AIFM continue to be effective.
Statement of Directors' responsibilities
In accordance with Chapter 4 of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules and to
the best of their knowledge, each director of the Company confirms that the
financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards
and applicable law) and with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial
Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts' issued by
the AIC in July 2022.
The directors are satisfied that the financial statements give a true and fair
view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Company.
Furthermore, each director certifies that the interim management report
includes an indication of important events that have occurred during the first
six months of the financial year and their impact on the financial statements
together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that the
Company faces. In addition, each director of the Company confirms that, with
the exception of management fees, directors' fees and directors'
shareholdings, there have been no related party transactions during the first
six months of the financial year.
Going concern status
The Company's business activities, together with the factors likely to affect
its future development, performance and position, are set out in the Chair's
statement and Managers' review.
The financial position of the Company as at 31 July 2025 is shown on the
unaudited condensed statement of financial position. The unaudited statement
of cash flow of the Company is set out below.
In accordance with the 2024 AIC Corporate Governance Code and the 2024 UK
Corporate Governance Code, the directors have undertaken a rigorous review of
the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.
The Company's assets consist of a diverse portfolio of listed equity shares
which, in most circumstances, are realisable within a very short timescale.
The directors are mindful of the principal and emerging risks disclosed
above.
They have reviewed forecasts for the current and following financial year and
believe that the Company has adequate financial resources to continue its
operational existence for the foreseeable future and for at least one year
from the date of signing these financial statements. Accordingly, the
directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing these
financial statements.
Christopher Metcalfe
Chair
3 October 2025
FINANCIAL REVIEW
UNAUDITED CONDENSED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
(Unaudited) Six months ended 31 July 2025 (Unaudited) Six months ended 31 July 2024
Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total
Note £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Net (losses)/gains on investments - (11,136) (11,136) - 11,182 11,182
Net currency losses - (53) (53) - (17) (17)
Revenue 1,272 - 1,272 1,731 - 1,731
Investment management fee (83) (330) (413) (119) (474) (593)
Other expenses (233) - (233) (303) - (303)
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities before finance costs and taxation
956 (11,519) (10,563) 1,309 10,691 12,000
Finance costs - - - (69) (274) (343)
Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities before taxation
956 (11,519) (10,563) 1,240 10,417 11,657
Taxation on ordinary activities (137) - (137) (196) - (196)
Net return/(loss) attributable to shareholders
819 (11,519) (10,700) 1,044 10,417 11,461
Net return/(loss) per Ordinary share
3 1.41p (19.78)p (18.37)p 1.52p 15.17p 16.69p
The total columns of this statement are the profit and loss accounts of the
Company.
The revenue and capital items are presented in accordance with the Association
of Investment companies ('AIC') Statement of Recommended Practice 2022.
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing
operations.
No operations were acquired or discontinued in the six months.
The notes below form part of these financial statements.
There is no other comprehensive income and therefore the return attributable
to shareholders is also the total comprehensive income for the period.
UNAUDITED CONDENSED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
(Unaudited) As at 31 July 2025 (Audited) As at 31 January 2025
Note £000 £000 £000 £000
Non-Current assets
Investments at fair value through profit or loss 198,470 230,275
Current assets
Trade receivables 1,083 2,360
Cash and cash equivalents 505 1,900
1,588 4,260
Current liabilities
Trade payables (2,543) (2,309)
Total net assets 197,515 232,226
Equity
Called up Ordinary share capital 4,934 4,934
Share premium account 11,823 11,823
Capital redemption reserve 11,083 11,083
Capital reserve, of which: 6 168,639 204,169
Realised capital reserve (distributable) 122,653 151,207
Unrealised gains on investments (undistributable) 45,986 52,962
Revenue reserve 1,036 217
Total shareholders' funds 197,515 232,226
Net asset value per Ordinary share 364.4p 382.7p
The notes below form part of these financial statements.
Franklin Global Trust plc is registered in Scotland, company number SC192761.
The financial statements were approved by the Board of directors on 3 October
2025 and signed on its behalf by
Christopher Metcalfe
Chair
3 October 2025
UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
Called up Share Capital
Ordinary premium redemption Capital Revenue
(Unaudited) share capital account reserve reserve reserve Total
Six months ended 31 July 2025 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
As at 31 January 2025 4,934 11,823 11,083 204,169 217 232,226
Net (loss)/return attributable to shareholders - - - (11,519) 819 (10,700)
Ordinary shares bought back during the period - - - (22,615) - (22,615)
Dividends paid - - - (1,396) - (1,396)
As at 31 July 2025 4,934 11,823 11,083 168,639 1,036 197,515
Called up Share Capital
Ordinary premium redemption Capital Revenue
(Unaudited) share capital account reserve reserve reserve Total
Six months ended 31 July 2024 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
As at 31 January 2024 4,934 11,823 11,083 228,307 630 256,777
Net return attributable to shareholders - - - 10,417 1,044 11,461
Ordinary shares bought back during the period - - - (18,120) - (18,120)
Dividends paid - - - (1,041) (606) (1,647)
As at 31 July 2024 4,934 11,823 11,083 219,563 1,068 248,471
Called up Share Capital
Ordinary premium redemption Capital Revenue
(Audited) share capital account reserve reserve reserve Total
Year ended 31 January 2025 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
As at 31 January 2024 4,934 11,823 11,083 228,307 630 256,777
Net return attributable to shareholders - - - 16,807 1,330 17,417
Ordinary shares bought back during the year - - - (39,184) - (39,184)
Dividends paid - - - (1,041) (1,743) (2,784)
As at 31 January 2024 4,934 11,823 11,083 204,169 217 232,226
The notes below form part of these financial statements.
UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOW
(Unaudited) (Unaudited)
Six months ended Six months ended
31 July 2025 31 July 2024
£000 £000 £000 £000
Cash flows from operating activities
Net (loss)/return on ordinary activities before taxation (10,563) 11,657
Adjustments for:
Losses/(gains) on investments 11,136 (11,182)
Finance costs - 343
Dividend income recognised (1,257) (1,705)
Interest income recognised (15) (26)
(Increase)/decrease in receivables (3) 48
(Decrease)/increase in payables (77) 29
Overseas withholding tax suffered (137) (196)
Net cash outflows from operations (916) (1,032)
Dividends received 1,168 1,602
Interest received 15 26
Overseas withholding tax recovered 31 37
Net cash flows from operating activities 298 633
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchases of investments (25,511) (48,684)
Sales of investments 45,741 68,737
Net cash flows from investing activities 20,230 20,053
Cash flows from financing activities
Repurchase of Ordinary share capital (20,527) (18,515)
Equity dividends paid (1,396) (1,647)
Interest and fees paid on bank loan - (340)
Net cash flows from financing activities (21,923) (20,502)
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (1,395) 184
Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the period 1,900 1,922
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 505 2,106
The notes below form part of these financial statements.
Analysis of debt
(Audited) (Unaudited)
As at 31 January 2025 Cash flows As at 31 July 2025
£000 £000 £000
Cash at bank 1,900 (1,395) 505
Bank loan(1) - - -
Net debt 1,900 (1,395) 505
(Audited) (Unaudited)
As at 31 January 2024 Cash flows As at 31 July 2024
£000 £000 £000
Cash at bank 1,922 184 2,106
Bank loan (10,000) - (10,000)
Net debt (8,078) 184 (7,894)
( )
(1)Repaid and closed on 25 November 2024.
NOTES TO THE CONDENSED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1: Financial statements
The financial information contained in this half-yearly report does not
constitute statutory accounts as defined in s434 - 6 of the Companies Act
2006. The financial information for the six months ended 31 July 2025 has not
been audited or reviewed by the Company's independent auditors.
The information for the year ended 31 January 2025 has been extracted from the
latest published audited financial statements which have been filed with the
Registrar of Companies. The report of the auditors on those accounts contained
no qualification or statement under s498 (2), (3) or (4) of the Companies Act
2006.
Note 2: Accounting policies
For the period ended 31 July 2025 (and the year ended 31 January 2025), the
Company is applying the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and
Republic of Ireland ('FRS 102'), which forms part of the revised Generally
Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP') issued by the Financial Reporting
Council ('FRC').
These condensed financial statements have been prepared on a going concern
basis in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the
Financial Conduct Authority, FRS 102 issued by the FRC in September 2015, FRS
104 Interim Financial Reporting issued by the FRC in March 2015 and the
revised Statement of Recommended Practice "Financial Statements of Investment
Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts" ('SORP') issued by the AIC in July
2022.
The accounting policies applied for the condensed set of financial statements
are set out in the Company's Annual Report for the year ended 31 January 2025.
Note 3: Net returns per Ordinary share
(Unaudited) (Unaudited)
Six months ended 31 July 2025 Six months ended 31 July 2024
£000 £000
Revenue return 819 1,044
Capital return (11,519) 10,417
Total return (10,700) 11,461
Weighted average number of shares in issue during the period 58,248,477 68,678,926
Revenue return per share 1.41p 1.52p
Capital return per share (19.78p) 15.17p
Total return per share (18.37p) 16.69p
Note 4: Dividends
(Unaudited) (Unaudited)
Six months ended 31 July 2025 Six months ended 31 July 2024
£000 £000
Year ended 31 January 2025 - fourth interim dividend of 1.50p (2024: 1.50p) 886 1,041
Year ended 31 January 2026 - first interim dividend of 0.90p (2025: 0.90p) 510 606
1,396 1,647
The fourth interim dividend for the years ended 31 January 2025 and 31 January
2024 have been allocated to the capital reserve.
The first interim dividend for the year ended 31 January 2026 has been
allocated to the capital reserve and the first interim dividend for the year
ended 31 January 2025 was allocated to the revenue reserve.
Note 5: Ordinary shares of 5p
(Unaudited) (Unaudited)
Six months to 31 July 2025 Six months to 31 July 2024
Number of shares £000 Number of shares £000
Ordinary shares of 5p
Ordinary shares in issue at the beginning of the period
60,682,674 3,033 71,228,807 3,560
Ordinary shares bought back to Treasury during the period
(6,486,726) (324) (4,827,873) (241)
Ordinary shares in issue at end of the period 54,195,948 2,709 66,400,934 3,319
(Unaudited) (Unaudited)
Six months ended 31 July 2025 Six months ended 31 July 2024
Number of shares £000 Number of shares £000
Treasury shares (Ordinary shares of 5p)
Treasury shares in issue at the beginning of the period
37,993,233 1,901 27,447,100 1,374
Ordinary shares bought back to Treasury during the period
6,486,726 324 4,827,873 241
Treasury shares in issue at end of the period 44,479,959 2,225 32,274,973 1,615
Total Ordinary shares in issue and in Treasury at the end of the period
98,675,907 4,934 98,675,907 4,934
Note 6: Capital reserve
Realised capital reserve Unrealised gains on investments Total capital reserve
£000 £000 £000
As at 31 January 2025 151,207 52,962 204,169
Losses on realisation of investments at fair value (4,162) - (4,162)
Movement in fair value of investments - (6,974) (6,974)
Realised currency losses during the period (51) (2) (53)
Cost of shares bought back into Treasury (22,615) - (22,615)
Capital expenses (330) - (330)
Dividends paid (1,396) - (1,396)
As at 31 July 2025 122,653 45,986 168,639
Realised capital reserve Unrealised gains on investments Total capital reserve
£000 £000 £000
As at 31 January 2024 156,688 71,619 228,307
Gains on realisation of investments at fair value 36,085 - 36,085
Movement in fair value of investments - (18,658) (18,658)
Realised currency gains during the period 4 1 5
Cost of shares bought back into Treasury (39,184) - (39,184)
Capital expenses (1,345) - (1,345)
Dividends paid (1,041) - (1,041)
As at 31 January 2025 151,207 52,962 204,169
Note 7: Fair value hierarchy
Under FRS 102, the Company is required to classify fair value measurements
using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs used
in making the measurements. The fair value hierarchy has the following levels:
- Level 1: quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets
or liabilities;
- Level 2: other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for
similar investments, interest rates, prepayments, credit risk, etc); and
- Level 3: significant unobservable input (including the Company's own
assumptions in determining the fair value of investments).
The financial assets measured at fair value through profit and loss are
grouped into the fair value hierarchy as follows:
(Unaudited) (Audited) (Unaudited)
31 July 2025 31 January 2025 31 July 2024
£000 £000 £000
Level 1 198,470 230,275 256,571
Net fair value 198,470 230,275 256,571
Note 8: Post balance sheet events
On 25 September 2025, the Board declared a second interim dividend of 0.9p per
share.
Between 1 August and 30 September 2025, the Company bought back into Treasury
2,647,298 ordinary shares at an average price of 355.0p per share.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
. END IR FXLFBEBLLFBLRecent news on Franklin Global Trust
See all newsREG - Franklin Global Tst - Transaction in Own Shares
AnnouncementREG - Franklin Global Tst - Quarterly disclosure
AnnouncementREG - Franklin Global Tst - Net Asset Value(s)
AnnouncementREG - Franklin Global Tst - Transaction in Own Shares
AnnouncementREG - Franklin Global Tst - Total Voting Rights
Announcement