REG-The Lindsell Train Investment Trust plc: Half-Year Results
04/12/2025 07:02
4 December 2025
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT
The Lindsell Train Investment Trust plc (the “Company”)
Unaudited Half-Year Results for the six months ended
30 September 2025
This Announcement is not the Company’s Half-year Report & Accounts. It is an
abridged version of the Company’s full Half-year Report & Accounts for the
six months ended 30 September 2025. The full Half-year Report & Accounts
together with a copy of this announcement, will shortly be available on the
Company’s website at www.ltit.co.uk
where up to date information on the Company, including NAV, share prices and
monthly updates, can also be found.
The Company's Half-year Report & Accounts for the six months ended 30
September 2025 has been submitted to the UK Listing Authority, and will
shortly be available for inspection on the National Storage Mechanism (NSM) at
https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
Financial Highlights
At 30 September At 31 March
Performance comparisons # 2025 2025
Net Asset Value (“NAV”) per Share 876.0p 952.1p
Share price 690.0p 818.0p
Discount to NAV per Share 21.2% 14.1%
Six months to Year to
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
NAV total return per Ordinary Share* ^ -3.7% -2.2%
Share price total return per Ordinary Share* ^ -11.2% +9.0%
MSCI World Index total return (Sterling) +14.6% +4.8%
UK RPI Inflation (all items) +2.7% +3.2%
Source: Bloomberg.
* Comparative
figures throughout the report have been restated to reflect the 100 for 1
stock split which was approved at the 2025 AGM and effective 24 September
2025.
^ The net asset value and
share price total returns at 30 September 2025 have been adjusted to include
the ordinary dividend of 42p per share paid on 19 September 2025, with the
associated ex-dividend date of 21 August 2025.
^ Alternative Performance Measure (“APM”). See
Glossary of Terms and Alternative Performance Measures.
Investment Objective
The objective of the Company is to maximise long-term total returns with a
minimum objective to maintain the real purchasing power of Sterling capital.
Investment Policy
The Investment Policy of the Company is to invest:
(i) in a wide range of financial
assets including equities, unlisted equities, bonds, funds, cash and other
financial investments globally with no limitations on the markets and sectors
in which investment may be made, although there is likely to be a bias towards
equities and Sterling assets, consistent with a Sterling-dominated investment
objective. The Directors expect that the flexibility implicit in these powers
will assist in the achievement of the investment objective;
(ii) in LTL managed fund products,
subject to Board approval, up to 25% of its gross assets; and
(iii) in LTL and to retain a holding,
currently 23.5%, in order to benefit from the growth of the business of the
Company’s Manager.
The Company does not envisage any changes to its objective, its investment
policy, or its management for the foreseeable future. The current composition
of the portfolio as at 30 September 2025, which may be changed at any time
(excluding investments in LTL and LTL managed funds) at the discretion of the
Manager within the confines of the policy stated above
Diversification
The Company expects to invest in a concentrated portfolio of securities with
the number of equity investments averaging fifteen companies. The Company will
not make investments for the purpose of exercising control or management and
will not invest in the securities of, or lend to, any one company (or other
members of its group) more than 15% by value of its gross assets at the time
of investment.
The Company will not invest more than 15% of gross assets in other
closed-ended investment funds.
Gearing
The Directors have discretion to permit borrowings up to 50% of the Net Asset
Value. However, the Directors have decided that it is in the Company’s best
interests not to use gearing. This is in part a reflection of the increasing
size and risk associated with the Company’s unlisted investment in LTL, but
also in response to the additional administrative burden required to adhere to
the full scope regime of the AIFMD.
Dividends
The Directors’ policy is to pay annual dividends consistent with retaining
the maximum permitted earnings in accordance with investment trust
regulations, thereby building revenue reserves.
In a year when this policy would imply a reduction in the ordinary dividend,
the Directors may choose to maintain the dividend by increasing the percentage
of revenue paid out or by drawing down on revenue reserves. Revenue reserves
on 31 March 2025 were twice the annual 2025 ordinary dividend paid on 19
September 2025.
All dividends have been distributed from revenue or revenue reserves.
Chairman’s Statement
The Company’s NAV per share fell from 952.1p to 876.0p over the six months
to 30 September 2025, leading to a NAV total return of -3.7%, once the payment
of the dividend of 42p per share was added back. Over the same period the
share price total return was -11.2%, with the share price discount to the NAV
rising from 14.1% to 21.2%, accounting for the difference in the performance.
These results compared with a 14.6% return from the MSCI World index in
Sterling, a performance that continues to be driven by a narrow range of large
capitalisation US technology companies. It transpired that just eleven such
companies accounted for 59% of the return of the index.
The scale of underperformance is symptomatic of a highly divergent market,
with performance concentrated around a narrow range of tech companies all with
the potential to take advantage of the application of Artificial Intelligence
(‘AI’). It is of course understandable that the potential of AI should be
dominating investors’ thoughts, but most focus has been on AI infrastructure
(data centres and equipment) rather than the capital light businesses that are
likely to be beneficiaries of using AI, a number of which are owned by the
Company. For instance, both LSEG and RELX, two of the Company’s biggest
quoted holdings at 11% and 7% of NAV, have access to proprietary
and difficult to replicate data that are essential for the successful
application of AI tools. However, both share prices declined over the six
month period, by 26% and 8% respectively, in part due to concerns that their
own business models could be disrupted by competing AI software. It is
particularly frustrating that these share price declines are occurring at a
time when the underlying business performance of LSEG and RELX appear stronger
than ever.
The largest quoted holding, Nintendo, at 14% of NAV, was up 27% over the six
months, as the market began to calibrate the initial success of its new
console. The Switch 2 got off to a strong start, selling 5.8 million consoles
in the first month after its launch. However, what is perhaps more encouraging
is the slate of software releases on the new platform, both from Nintendo and
from other video game companies, and the increasing evidence that the company
is successfully connecting with its customers directly, through digital
registrations and online purchases, enabling it to manage better the console
transition.
The Lindsell Train North American Equity Fund may not have matched its
benchmark return (for similar reasons to those described above), but it did at
least capture some of the MSCI North American index’s 15.4% six month
returns to 30 September 2025, rising in value by 7.0%. It
has a holding in both Alphabet and Oracle, two of the nine holdings that have
dominated global market returns in recent months. Oracle was up 101% over the
half year as it promises to become an AI infrastructure provider, and thus a
very different company. It has resulted in the LTL investment team
meaningfully reducing the size of the holding and reinvesting the proceeds in
other existing holdings. Fund performance was also aided by continued strong
returns from UFC (mixed martial arts) and WWE (professional wrestling) owner
TKO, which was up 32%.
The performance of Lindsell Train Limited (‘LTL’) was again a headwind to
performance. At 24% of the Company’s NAV, LTL’s influence over performance
is always likely to be significant, and it proved to be the second biggest
negative contributor over the six months (LSEG was the largest). LTL’s total
return was -6.5%, a direct result of a continued decline in its funds under
management (‘FUM’) to £9.8bn at end September. In recent years, LTL has
been able to maintain its profitability by ensuring that costs fall in line
with revenues, helped by capping its salary and discretionary remuneration
payments (including bonus and profit share distributions) to staff at c.26% of
revenues. If FUM continues to decline further, this cap may have to be raised
to maintain sufficient levels of compensation with the primary aim
of retaining talent. Any increase in the cap will negatively impact LTL’s
profit margins and could contribute to a fall in LTL’s future dividend
payments, although LTL could mitigate this by increasing its dividend payout
ratio from the current level of 80%.
There is no doubt that the combination of LTL’s performance and its
declining FUM is bearing down on the share price and widening the share price
discount to the NAV. The only ameliorating factor - other than a reversal of
these malign trends - is LTL’s financial strength. 22 years of retaining 20%
of its earnings has built up LTL’s net assets to the equivalent of £3,992
per share (see Appendix 1), which represents 59% of LTL’s 30 September 2025
share price.
LTL’s profit share scheme, which is designed to reward and incentivise key
LTL staff, currently pays 17% of LTL’s after - tax profits
to seven employees as part of their overall compensation. Half of this amount
is then invested in LTL shares sold by the co-founders (Michael Lindsell and
Nick Train) and the Company, in the proportion of 75% and 25% respectively.
Over the six months, 49 LTL shares were sold by the Company as part of the
scheme. It will mean that the Company’s shareholding in LTL will gradually
decrease, but in doing so it will help to align increasingly the interests of
a new generation of LTL employees with both the founders and the Company.
With the performance of all four strategies at LTL lagging behind relevant
benchmarks over the last five years, it is understandable that the investment
approach is under much scrutiny at the current time. Whilst expressing
disappointment and contrition over any errors of judgement, LTL remains
resolute about the key tenets of its approach, which has been consistent
throughout its 25 year history. The LTL investment team remains focussed on
building concentrated portfolios of high returning, durable companies that it
aims to hold for the long term (20 years or ideally longer), so as to capture
the compounding returns inherent to such cash generative business franchises.
What is reassuring to us is that in aggregate LTL’s companies, including
those held by the Company, are continuing to compound returns at a faster pace
than the market in general, even if this is unrecognised by share price
performance. It is impossible to know how long this disconnect can perpetuate,
but so long as it continues we believe value in the portfolio is growing,
building the foundations of what we and LTL hope to be significant future
outperformance, reversing the trend of recent times.
Roger Lambert
Chairman
3 December 2025
Investment Manager’s Report
I regret to report that the first six months of the Trust’s fiscal year has
offered no respite to the performance headwinds we, as Investment Manager,
have found ourselves facing for the past five years. Indeed recently some of
the Trust’s biggest quoted holdings have fallen most as further attention in
markets is focussed primarily on infrastructure and hardware investment around
Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’).
I mention specifically the holding in LSEG, which was down 25% over the six
months to 30 September 2025. In this case, it seems that there has been a
particular disconnect between underlying business performance and share price
performance. The company delivered strong results in August with broad-based
growth, operating leverage, and a major buyback, underpinned by a largely
recurring revenue base, robust margins, and secular growth tailwinds. Why then
were the shares down? The market appears much more focussed on a perceived
slowing of subscription growth, competitive fears from new AI-enabled
platforms, and delays in realising progress from the company’s significant
Microsoft partnership. We believe these risks are overstated and the share
price fall overdone. The slowdown in subscription revenues was minor, and in
our view, linked to a software platform migration; the new AI challengers lack
data ownership and professional-grade accuracy, and we expect LSEG’s
competitive response to be robust. The long-term potential of the tie up with
Microsoft to compete with Bloomberg justifies a measured rollout. We continue
to believe LSEG offers long-term investors significant value especially as the
combination with Refinitiv gives the company access to proprietary and
difficult to access data that others do not possess. If, as we think likely,
LSEG and Microsoft can craft decision making tools and products built around
this data, we would expect to see its market share rise, reversing a
multi-year declining trend. Interestingly, in early October, LSEG announced
that for the first time, AI-agents developed by Microsoft will be enabled to
work on and with LSEG’s “unparalleled” Data and Analytics tools, and
that this will bring new insights and efficiencies for LSEG’s customers.
This strengthens our view that LSEG is an AI-winner with a new growth
opportunity.
We believe there to be no better example of a potential beneficiary of AI than
RELX, though again its share price came under pressure amid fears that rapid
AI adoption could disrupt established data and software vendors. However,
RELX’s strength lies in the trust, accuracy, and domain specialisation of
products like LexisNexis, which professionals simply cannot risk substituting
with cheaper but less reliable alternatives. This franchise supports repeat
business and long-term pricing power. We continue to believe that AI looks
more like an opportunity than a threat, with workflows built on trust,
compliance, and proprietary data among the most insulated from disruption. We
note that RELX and its peers have seen sentiment on this debate swing in both
directions over the last few years and expect the gyrations – both positive
and negative – to continue with each new headline. In the meantime we
continue to simply assess the continuing strength and defensibility of
RELX’s data assets and domain expertise and tune out market noise.
Diageo used to vie for the position of the largest quoted company in the
portfolio, but its performance since the boom in drinks consumption during and
after COVID has relegated the holding to one under 5%. Whilst disappointing,
we continue to believe that the inflation protection, growth and
predictability provided by, amongst other brands, Johnnie Walker, Diageo’s
collection of single malt whiskies, Don Julio tequila, Tanqueray, Crown Royal
whiskey, a third of Hennessy cognac and Veuve Clicquot and, of course,
Guinness, means that the company deserves its place in your portfolio. Very
few things are certain in the business and investment world, but it is, we
think, highly likely these brands will be being consumed around the world in
20 years’ time, and in higher volumes, assuming global economies grow. That
durability is both rare and, at least in theory, extremely valuable. And
we should state that Diageo’s underlying business performance has been
nowhere near as underwhelming as the 40% share price decline since the end of
2020 might suggest. Over that time Diageo’s annual revenues have actually
grown at a 6.5% CAGR ($20.2bn FY2025 compared to $14.8bn FY2020). It is the
de-rating of the shares that has led to the shares performing so poorly. The
forward P/E multiple has fallen from 21x to 15x over the last five years,
while the current enterprise value (EV) relative to sales – arguably a more
dependable and less volatile valuation metric compared to P/E – has also
fallen over the last five years, from 5.4x to 3.1x. This is a trend we have
seen across most of the Trust’s consumer businesses, with current EVs
falling from an average of 3.6x sales five years ago to 2.3x today.
One final comment on the biggest holding in the Trust, Nintendo, which has
grown to 14% of NAV thanks to its incremental performance over recent years,
including a 25% uplift in the six months to the end of September. The main
driver of that performance was the release of the new Switch 2 console in
June, which has been even more successful than we had hoped. There are Nvidia
chips in the Switch 2, which make it more powerful and more fun than any
predecessor. The question is: will there still be Nvidia chips in Switch 4, or
whatever a future console is called, in 15 years’ time? The fact is we
don’t know. But, what we are much more sure of, is that in 2040 more gamers
than ever will be looking forward to playing the latest version of Mario Kart.
That is the combination of durability and growth that Nintendo has offered and
continues to offer and has paid off for long-term investors. And that
combination of durability and growth is at the heart of the effects we are
hoping to capture for all our strategies.
Nick Train
Lindsell Train Limited
Investment Manager
3 December 2025
Portfolio Holdings at 30 September 2025
(All ordinary shares unless otherwise stated)
Look-
through
Fair % of basis:
value net % of total
Holding Security £’000 assets assets†
6,252 Lindsell Train (“LTL”) 42,658 24.3% 24.3%
380,500 Nintendo 24,496 14.0% 14.0%
12,500,000 WS Lindsell Train North American Equity Fund Acc* 21,354 12.2% 0.0%
232,900 London Stock Exchange 19,834 11.3% 11.5%
363,000 RELX 12,912 7.4% 7.6%
198,890 Unilever 8,751 5.0% 5.2%
430,000 Diageo 7,632 4.3% 4.5%
1,040,000 A.G. Barr 6,947 4.0% 4.0%
124,365 Mondelez 5,769 3.3% 3.6%
250,500 Universal Music 5,370 3.1% 3.1%
93,000 PayPal 4,632 2.6% 3.0%
12,047 Thermo Fisher Scientific 4,336 2.5% 3.0%
71,000 Heineken 3,613 2.1% 2.1%
420,000 Finsbury Growth & Income Trust* 3,604 2.0% 0.0%
39,099 Laurent Perrier 2,976 1.7% 1.7%
Indirect Holdings – 0.0% 12.2%
Total Investments 174,884 99.8% 99.8%
Net Current Assets 324 0.2% 0.2%
Net Assets 175,208 100.0% 100.0%
† Look-through basis:
percentages held in each security is adjusted upwards by the amount of
securities held by LTL managed funds. A downward adjustment is applied to the
fund‘s holdings to take into account the underlying holdings of these funds.
It provides shareholders with a measure of stock specific risk by aggregating
the direct holdings of the Company with the indirect holdings held within LTL
funds.
* LTL managed funds.
Leverage
We detail below the equity exposure of the Funds managed by LTL as at 30
September 2025:
Net equity
exposure
WS Lindsell Train North American Equity Fund Acc 99.2%
Finsbury Growth and Income Trust 101.9%
Analysis of Investment Portfolio at 30 September 2025
Breakdown by Location of Listing
(look-through basis)^
UK* 61.5%
USA 17.5%
Japan 14.0%
Europe Excluding UK 6.8%
Rest of World^^ 0.0%
Cash and Equivalents 0.2%
100.0%
Breakdown by Location of Underlying Company Revenues
(look-through basis)^
USA^^ 36.3%
Europe Excluding UK^^ 24.2%
UK^^ 20.8%
Rest of World^^ 13.6%
Japan 4.9%
Cash and Equivalents 0.2%
100.0%
Breakdown by Sector
(look-through basis)^
Financials 42.1%
Consumer Staples 22.6%
Communication Services 20.0%
Industrials 9.5%
Health Care 3.0%
Information Technology 2.4%
Consumer Discretionary 0.4%
100.0%
^ Look-through basis: this
adjusts the percentages held in each asset class, country or currency by the
amount held by LTL managed funds. It provides shareholders with a more
accurate measure of country and currency exposure by aggregating the direct
holdings of the Company with the indirect holdings held by the LTL funds.
* LTL accounts for 24.3% and is not listed.
^^ LTL accounts for 10 percentage
points of the Europe figures, 11 percentage points of the UK figures, 3
percentage points of the USA figures and 0 percentage point of the ROW figure.
Income Statement
Six months ended Six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Unaudited Unaudited
Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss – (10,694) (10,694) – (8,788) (8,788)
Exchange losses on currency – (8) (8) – (1) (1)
Income 2 4,736 – 4,736 5,790 – 5,790
Investment management fees 3 (416) – (416) (418) – (418)
Other expenses 4 (385) (11) (396) (350) – (350)
Return/(loss) before taxation 3,935 (10,713) (6,778) 5,022 (8,789) (3,767)
Taxation 5 (40) – (40) (53) – (53)
Return/(loss) after taxation for the financial period 3,895 (10,713) (6,818) 4,969 (8,789) (3,820)
Return/(loss) per Ordinary Share* 6 19.5p (53.6p) (34.1p) 24.8p (43.9p) (19.1p)
1 The comparative return per
shares have been restated to reflect the 100 for 1 stock split which was
approved at the 2025 AGM and effective 24 September 2025.
All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing
operations.
The total columns of this statement represent the profit and loss accounts of
the Company. The revenue and capital columns are supplementary to this and are
prepared under the guidance published by the Association of Investment
Companies.
The Company does not have any other recognised gains or losses. The net loss
for the period disclosed above represents the Company’s total comprehensive
income.
No operations were acquired or discontinued during the period.
Statement of Changes in Equity
Share Special Capital Revenue
capital reserve reserve reserve Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
For the six months ended 30 September 2025 (unaudited)
At 31 March 2025 150 19,850 148,855 21,571 190,426
(Loss)/return after tax for the period – – (10,713) 3,895 (6,818)
Dividend paid – – – (8,400) (8,400)
At 30 September 2025 150 19,850 138,142 17,066 175,208
Share Special Capital Revenue
capital reserve reserve reserve Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
For the six months ended 30 September 2024 (unaudited)
At 31 March 2024 150 19,850 161,981 23,304 205,285
(Loss)/return after tax for the period – – (8,789) 4,969 (3,820)
Dividend paid – – – (10,300) (10,300)
At 30 September 2024 150 19,850 153,192 17,973 191,165
Statement of Financial Position
30 September 31 March
2025 2025
Unaudited Audited
Note £’000 £’000
Fixed assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss 174,884 185,636
Current assets
Other receivables 137 417
Cash at bank 378 4,582
515 4,999
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Other payables (191) (209)
Net current assets 324 4,790
Net assets 7 175,208 190,426
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 150 150
Special reserve 19,850 19,850
20,000 20,000
Capital reserve 138,142 148,855
Revenue reserve 17,066 21,571
Equity shareholders’ funds 175,208 190,426
Net asset value per Ordinary Share (p) 7 876.0 952.1*
* Adjusted for the 100 for 1 stock split effective 24
September 2025.
Statement of Cash Flows
Six months ended Six months ended
30 September 30 September
2025 2024
Unaudited Unaudited
£’000 £’000
Net loss before finance costs and tax (6,778) (3,767)
Losses on investments held at fair value 10,694 8,788
Losses on exchange movements 8 1
Decrease in other receivables 9 13
Decrease in accrued income 273 61
(Decrease)/increase in other payables (18) 26
Taxation on investment income (40) (53)
Net cash inflow from operating activities 4,148 5,069
Purchase of investments held at fair value (7,242) (886)
Sale of investments held at fair value 7,298 805
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from investing activities 56 (81)
Equity dividends paid (8,400) (10,300)
Net cash outflow from financing activities (8,400) (10,300)
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents (4,196) (5,312)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 4,582 6,028
Losses on exchange movements (8) (1)
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 378 715
Notes to the Financial Statements
1 Accounting policies
The Financial Statements of the Company have been prepared under the
historical cost convention modified to include the revaluation of fixed assets
investments and in accordance with United Kingdom Company law, FRS 104
“Interim Financial Reporting” applicable in the UK and Ireland, the
Statement of Recommended Practice (“SORP”) “Financial Statements of
Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts”, issued by the
Association of Investment Companies updated in July 2022 and the Companies Act
2006.
The accounting policies followed in this Half-year Report are consistent with
the policies adopted in the audited financial statements for the year ended 31
March 2025.
2 Income
Six months ended Six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Unaudited Unaudited
£’000 £’000
Income from investments
Overseas dividends 420 512
UK dividends
– Lindsell Train Limited 3,409 4,108
– Other UK dividends 884 1,059
– Deposit interest 24 111
4,737 5,790
3 Management fees
Six months ended Six months ended
30 September 30 September
2025 2024
Unaudited Unaudited
£’000 £’000
Investment management fee 485 484
Rebate of investment management fee (69) (66)
Net management fees 416 418
4 Other expenses
Six months ended Six months ended
30 September 30 September
2025 2024
Unaudited Unaudited
£’000 £’000
Directors’ emoluments 91 83
Company Secretarial & Administration fee 93 94
Auditor’s remuneration†* 29 29
Tax compliance fee 2 3
Other** 170 141
385 350
Expenses charged to capital 11 –
396 350
† Remuneration for the audit of the Financial
Statements of the Company.
* Excluding VAT.
** Includes registrar’s fees, printing fees,
marketing fees, safe custody fees, London Stock Exchange/FCA fees, Key Man and
Directors’ and Officers’ liability insurance, Employer’s National
Insurance legal fees and MSCI index fees .
5 Effective rate of tax
The effective rate of tax reported in the revenue column of the income
statement for the six months ended 30 September 2025 is 1.02% (six months
ended 30 September 2024: 1.05%), based on revenue profit before tax of
£3,935,000 (six months ended 30 September 2024:
£5,022,000. This differs from the standard rate of tax, 25% (six months ended
30 September 2024: 25%) as a result of revenue not
taxable for Corporation Tax purposes.
6 Return/(loss) per Ordinary Share
Six months ended Six months ended
30 September 30 September
2025 2024
Unaudited Unaudited
£’000 £’000
Total loss per Ordinary Share £(6,818) £(3,820)
*Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the period 20,000,000 20,000,000
Total loss per Ordinary Share (34.1p) (19.1p)
* The comparative return/(loss) per share has been
restated to reflect the 100 for 1 stock split effective 24 September 2025.
The total return/(loss) per Ordinary Share detailed above can be further
analysed between revenue and capital, as below:
Revenue return per Ordinary Share
Revenue return £3,895 £4,969
Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the period 20,000,000 20,000,000
Revenue return per Ordinary Share 19.5p 24.8p
Capital loss per Ordinary Share
Capital loss £(10,713) £(8,789)
Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the period 20,000,000 20,000,000
Capital loss per Ordinary Share (53.6p) (43.9p)
7 Net asset value (“NAV”) per Ordinary Share
Six months ended Year ended
30 September 31 March
2025 2025
Unaudited Audited
£’000 £’000
Net assets attributable £175,208 £190,426
Ordinary Shares in issue at the period/year end 20,000,000 20,000,000
NAV per Ordinary Share (p) 876.0 952.1
8 Valuation of financial instruments
The Company’s investments and derivative financial instruments as disclosed
in the Statement of Financial Position are valued at fair value.
FRS 102 requires an entity to classify fair value measurements using a fair
value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs used in making
the measurements. Categorisation within the hierarchy has been determined on
the basis of the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value
measurement of the relevant asset as follows:
* Level 1 – The unadjusted quoted price in an active market for
identical assets or liabilities that the entity can access at the measurement
date.
* Level 2 – Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level
1 that are observable (i.e. developed using market data) for the asset or
liability, either directly or indirectly.
* Level 3 – Inputs are unobservable (i.e. for which market data
is unavailable) for the asset or liability.
The tables below set out fair value measurements of financial instruments as
at the year end by the level in the fair value hierarchy into which the fair
value measurement is categorised.
Financial assets/liabilities at fair value through profit or loss
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
At 30 September 2025 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Investments 110,872 21,354 42,658 174,884
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
At 31 March 2025 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Investments 116,069 19,959 49,608 185,636
Note: Within the above tables, level 1 comprises all the
Company’s ordinary investments, level 2
represents the investment in WS Lindsell Train North American Equity Fund
and level 3 represents the investment in LTL.
LTL Valuation Methodology
The current methodology was approved and has been applied to the monthly
valuations of the Company from 31 March 2022. J.P. Morgan Cazenove undertook
an independent review of the methodology in January 2025, which confirmed its
continued validity.
The methodology seeks to capture the changing economics and prospects for
LTL’s business. It is designed to be as transparent as possible so that
shareholders can themselves calculate how any change to the inputs would
affect the resultant valuation.
This methodology has a single component based on a percentage of LTL’s funds
under management (“FUM”), with the percentage applied being reviewed
monthly and adjusted to reflect the ongoing profitability of LTL. At the end
of each month the ratio of LTL’s notional annualised net profits* to LTL’s
FUM is calculated and, depending on the result, the percentage of FUM is
adjusted according to the table shown in Appendix 3.
The Board reserves the right to vary its valuation methodology at its
discretion.
* LTL’s notional net profits are
calculated by applying a fee rate (averaged over the last six months) to the
most recent end-month FUM to produce annualised fee revenues excluding
performance fees. Notional staff costs of 45% of revenues, annualised fixed
costs and tax are deducted from revenues to produce notional annualised net
profits.
9 Sections 1158/1159 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010
It is the intention of the Directors to conduct the affairs of the Company so
that the Company satisfies the conditions for approval as an Investment Trust
Company set out in Sections 1158/1159 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.
10 Going Concern
The Directors believe, having considered the Company’s investment objective,
risk management policies, capital management policies and procedures, and the
nature of the portfolio and the expenditure projections, that the Company has
adequate resources, an appropriate financial structure and suitable management
arrangements in place to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable
future, and, more specifically, that there are no material uncertainties
relating to the Company that would prevent its ability to continue in such
operational existence for at least twelve months from the date of the approval
of this Half-year Report. For these reasons, they consider there is reasonable
evidence to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the
financial statements. In reviewing the position as at the date of this Report,
the Board has considered the guidance on this matter issued by the Financial
Reporting Council.
As part of their assessment, the Directors have given careful consideration to
the consequences for the Company of continuing uncertainty in the global
economy. These include the continued uncertainty created by the persistence of
global inflation, international trade tariffs, together with the consequences
of the war in Ukraine and the effect of sanctions against Russia; tensions
between China and the West; as well as subsequent long-term effects on
economies and international relations. As previously reported, stress testing
was also carried out in April 2025 to establish the impact of a significant
and prolonged decline in the Company’s performance and prospects. This
included a range of plausible downside scenarios such as reviewing the effects
of substantial falls in investment values and the impact of the Company’s
ongoing charges ratio.
11 2025 Accounts
The figures and financial information for the year to 31 March 2025 are
extracted from the latest published accounts of the Company and do not
constitute statutory accounts for the year.
Those accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and included
the Report of the Company’s auditor which was unqualified and did not
contain a reference to any matters to which the Company’s auditor drew
attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report, and did not
contain a statement under section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.
Interim Management Report
The Directors are required to provide an Interim Management Report in
accordance with the UK Listing Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency
Rules. They consider that the Chairman’s Statement and the Investment
Manager’s Report, the following statements and the Directors’
Responsibility Statement below together constitute the Interim Management
Report for the Company for the six months ended 30 September 2025.
Principal Risks and Uncertainties
The Company’s principal and emerging risks are described in detail under the
heading “Principal and Emerging Risks” within the Strategic Report in the
Company’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025. They have been
identified as: cyber risk; key person risk; valuation risk; climate change;
geopolitical or natural event risk; and operational disruption. In the view of
the Board, there have not been any material changes to the fundamental nature
of these risks, and they remain applicable for the remainder of the financial
year. However, the Board continues to monitor and assess the elevated
geopolitical and economic volatility affecting the companies within the
portfolio. Ongoing global instability driven by regional conflicts, trade
tensions, inflationary pressures, and evolving regulatory landscapes has
heightened uncertainty around supply chains, investment strategies, and
consumer confidence. These factors may adversely impact demand, operational
costs, and overall business resilience.
Related Party Transactions
During the first six months of the current financial year, no transactions
with related parties have taken place which have materially affected the
financial position or the performance of the Company.
Directors’ Responsibilities
In accordance with Chapter 4 of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency
Rules, the Directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge:
* the condensed set of Financial Statements has been prepared in
accordance with applicable UK Accounting Standards on a going concern basis,
and gives a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position
and net return of the Company;
* the Half-year Report includes a fair review of the important
events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year
and their impact on the Financial Statements;
* the Statement of Principal and Emerging Risks shown above is a
fair review of the principal and emerging risks for the remainder of the
financial year.
The Half-year Report has not been audited by the Company’s auditor.
This Half-year Report contains certain forward-looking statements. These
statements are made by the Directors in good faith based on the information
available to them up to the date of this report and such statements should be
treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both
economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking
information.
For and on behalf of the Board
Roger Lambert
Chairman
3 December 2025
Appendix 1
Half-year review of Lindsell Train Limited (“LTL”) the Investment Manager
of The Lindsell Train Investment Trust plc (“LTIT”), as at 31 July 2025
Funds under Management
Jul 2025 Jan 2025 Jul 2024
FUM by Strategy £m £m £m
UK 4,115 5,154 5,818
Global 6,349 7,496 7,894
Japan 51 58 71
North America 40 44 39
Total 10,554 12,752 13,822
Largest Client Accounts
Jul 2025 Jan 2025 Jul 2024
% of FUM % of FUM % of FUM
Largest Pooled Fund Asset 34% 32% 30%
Largest Segregated Account 13% 12% 12%
Financials
Unaudited
Jul 2025 Jul 2024 %
Profit & Loss £’000 £’000 Change
Fee Revenue
Investment Management fee 27,984 36,475 -23%
Performance Fee –
Total Revenue 27,984 36,475
Staff Remuneration* (8,682) (10,912) -20%
Fixed Overheads (2,580) (2,618) -1%
Exchange losses (207) (63)
Operating Profit 16,515 22,883 -28%
Gains on fixed asset investment (453) 299
Gains on current asset investment (98) 1,509
Interest receivable and similar income 957 498
Profit before tax 16,922 25,188 -33%
Tax on profit (4,230) (6,319)
Net Profit 12,692 18,869 -33%
Dividends (14,423) (17,169)
Retained profit (1,731) 1,700
Balance Sheet
Fixed Assets 40 33
Investments (inc investment in Gilts & Bonds) 85,325 80,945
Other Current Assets (inc cash at bank) 28,765 31,992
Liabilities (7,699) (7,752)
Net Assets 106,431 105,219
Capital & Reserves
Called up Share Capital 267 267
Share Premium** 57 57
Share Discount** (494) (494)
Profit & Loss Account 106,601 105,390
Shareholders’ Funds 106,431 105,219
* Staff
costs include permanent staff remuneration, social security, temporary
apprentice levy, introduction fees and other staff related costs. No more than
25% of fees (other than LTIT) can be paid as permanent staff remuneration.
** The Share Premium and
Share Discount account for the difference in the cost and resale of shares
that were held in Treasury.
Rounding has been applied to the figures presented. Minor discrepancies
between line items and total values may occur.
Five Year History
Unaudited
Jul 2025 Jul 2024 Jul 2023 Jul 2022 Jul 2021
Operating Profit Margin 59% 63% 65% 65% 64%
Earnings per share (£) 476 708 867 1,083 1,237
Dividends per share (£) 541 644 768 975 1,004
Total Staff Cost as % of Revenue 31% 30% 30% 31% 33%
Opening FUM (£m) 13,822 17,505 19,562 24,298 21,151
Changes in FUM (£m) (3,268) (3,683) (2,057) (4,736) 3,147
– of market movement 702 603 1,054 (1,271) 3,040
– of net fund inflows/(outflows) (3,970) (4,286) (3,111) (3,465) 107
Closing FUM (£m) 10,554 13,822 17,505 19,562 24,298
LTL Open-ended funds as % of total 60% 60% 64% 66% 73%
Client Relationships
– Pooled funds 5 5 5 5 5
– Segregated accounts 10 13 15 18 17
Ownership
Jul 2025 Jul 2024 Jul 2023 Jul 2022 Jul 2021
Michael Lindsell and spouse 9,387 9,510 9,578 9,578 9,630
Nick Train and spouse 9,387 9,510 9,578 9,578 9,630
The Lindsell Train Investment Trust plc 6,252 6,333 6,378 6,378 6,421
Other Directors/employees 1,634 1,307 1,126 1,126 979
26,660 26,660 26,660 26,660 26,660
Treasury Shares 0 0 0 0 0
Total Shares 26,660 26,660 26,660 26,660 26,660
Board of Directors
Nick Train Chairman and Portfolio Manager
Michael Lindsell Chief Executive and Portfolio Manager
Michael Lim IT Director and Secretarial
Joss Saunders Chief Operating Officer
James Bullock Portfolio Manager
Jessica Cameron Head of Marketing and Client Services
Jane Orr Non-Executive Director
Julian Bartlett Non-Executive Director
Rory Landman Non-Executive Director
Employees
Jul 2025 Jul 2024 Jul 2023 Jul 2022 Jul 2021
Investment Team
(including Portfolio Managers) 6 6 6 6 7
Client Servicing & Marketing 8 8 8 7 8
Operations & Administration 15 13 13 13 12
Non-Executive directors 3 3 3 3 3
32 30 30 29 30
Rounding has been applied to the figures presented. Minor discrepancies
between line items and total values may occur.
Appendix 2
WS Lindsell Train North American Equity Fund Portfolio Holdings at 30
September 2025
(All ordinary shares unless otherwise stated)
Fair % of
value net
Holding Security £’000 assets
18,500 Alphabet 3,340 8.3%
17,300 TKO Group 2,595 6.5%
10,000 Visa 2,534 6.3%
10,200 American Express 2,517 6.3%
6,500 S&P Global 2,349 5.9%
1,900 FICO 2,114 5.3%
24,500 Walt Disney 2,083 5.2%
4,000 Intuit 2,029 5.1%
10,500 Equifax 2,001 5.0%
9,000 Oracle 1,879 4.7%
4,600 Thermo Fisher Scientific 1,656 4.1%
28,500 Canadian Pacific 1,576 3.9%
7,400 CME Group 1,485 3.7%
7,500 Verisk 1,401 3.5%
4,500 Adobe 1,179 2.9%
20,400 Nike 1,057 2.6%
21,000 PayPal 1,046 2.6%
15,500 Estée Lauder 1,015 2.5%
9,000 PepsiCo 939 2.3%
20,000 Mondelez 928 2.3%
12,000 T Rowe Price 915 2.3%
18,500 Coca-Cola 911 2.3%
15,000 Colgate-Palmolive 891 2.2%
36,000 Brown-Forman 719 1.8%
3,300 Madison Square Garden Sports 557 1.4%
Total Investments 39,714 99.2%
Net Current Assets 306 0.8%
Net Assets 40,020 100.0%
Appendix 3
LTIT Director’s valuation of LTL (unaudited)
30 Sept 2025 30 Sept 2024
Notional annualised post tax earnings (A)* (£'000) 18,075 24,680
Funds under Management less LTIT holdings (B) (£'000) 9,832,721 13,357,008
Normalised notional net profits as % of FUM, A/B = C 0.184% 0.185%
% of FUM (D) (see table below to view % corresponding to C) 1.85% 1.85%
Valuation (E) i.e. B x D (£'000) 181,905 247,105
Number of shares in issue (F) 26,660 26,660
Valuation per share in LTL i.e. E / F £6,823 £9,269
* Notional annualised post tax earnings are
made up of:
– annualised fee revenue, based on 6-mth
average fee rate applied to most recent month-end AUM
– annualised fee revenue excludes
performance fees
– annualised interest income, based on
3-mth average
– notional staff costs of 45% of
annualised fee revenue
– annualised operating costs (excluding
staff costs), based on 3-mth normalised average
– notional tax at Sep 2025 and 2024 - 25%
Notional annualised net profits*/FUM (%) Valuation of LTL - Percentage of FUM
0.15 – 0.16 1.70%
0.16 – 0.17 1.75%
0.17 – 0.18 1.80%
0.18 – 0.19 1.85%
0.19 – 0.20 1.90%
0.20 – 0.21 1.95%
0.21 – 0.22 2.00%
Glossary of Terms and Alternative Performance Measures (“APM”) (unaudited)
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”)
The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the “Directive”) is a
European Union Directive that entered into force on 22 July 2013. The
Directive regulates EU fund managers that manage alternative investment funds
(this includes investment trusts).
Alternative Performance Measure (“APM”)
An alternative performance measure is a financial measure of historical or
future financial performance, financial position or cash flow that is not
prescribed by the relevant accounting standards. The APMs are the discount and
premium, dividend yield, share price and NAV total returns and ongoing
charges. The Directors believe that these measures enhance the comparability
of information between reporting periods and aid investors in understanding
the Company’s performance.
Benchmark
With effect from 1 April 2021 the Company’s comparator benchmark is the MSCI
World Index total return in Sterling. Prior to 1 April 2021 the benchmark was
the annual average redemption yield on the longest-dated UK government fixed
rate (1.625% 2071) calculated using weekly data, plus a premium of 0.5%,
subject to a minimum yield of 4.0%.
Discount and premium (APM)
If the share price of an investment trust is higher than the Net Asset Value
(NAV) per share, the shares are trading at a premium to NAV. In this
circumstance the price that an investor pays or receives for a share would be
more than the value attributable to it by reference to the underlying assets.
The premium is the difference between the Share Price and the NAV, expressed
as a percentage of the NAV.
A discount occurs when the share price is below the NAV. Investors would
therefore be paying less than the value attributable to the shares by
reference to the underlying assets.
A premium or discount is generally the consequence of the balance of supply
and demand for the shares on the stock market.
The discount or premium is calculated by dividing the difference between the
Share Price and the NAV by the NAV.
As at As at
30 September 31 March
2025 2025
Share Price 690.0p 818.0p
NAV per Share 876.0p 952.1p
Discount to NAV per Share 21.2% 14.1%
MSCI World Index total return in Sterling (the Company’s comparator
Benchmark)
The MSCI requires the Company to include the following statement in the
Half-year Report.
“The MSCI information (relating to the Benchmark) may only be used for your
internal use, may not be reproduced or redisseminated in any form and may not
be used as a basis for or a component of any financial instruments or products
or indices. None of the MSCI information is intended to constitute investment
advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of
investment decision and may not be relied on as such. Historical data and
analysis should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of any future
performance analysis, forecast or prediction. The MSCI information is provided
on an “as is” basis and the user of this information assumes the entire
risk of any use made of this information. MSCI, each of its affiliates and
each other person involved in or related to compiling, computing or creating
any MSCI information (collectively, the “MSCI Parties”) expressly
disclaims all warranties (including, without limitation, any warranties of
originality, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, non-infringement,
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose) with respect to this
information. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall any MSCI
Party have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental,
punitive, consequential (including, without limitation lost profits) or any
other damages. (www.msci.com).”
Net asset value (“NAV”) per Ordinary Share
The NAV is shareholders’ funds expressed as an amount per individual share.
Equity shareholders’ funds are the total value of all the Company’s
assets, at current market value, having deducted all current and long-term
liabilities and any provision for liabilities and charges.
The NAV of the Company is published weekly and at each month end.
The figures disclosed in the financial highlights have been calculated as
shown below:
Six months
ended Year ended
30 September 31 March
2025 2025
NAV £’000 (a) 175,208 190,426
Ordinary Shares in issue (b) 20,000,000 20,000,000
NAV per Ordinary Share (p) (a) ÷ (b) 876.0 952.1
Revenue return per share
The revenue return per share is the revenue return profit for the period
divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the
period/(year).
Share price and NAV total return (APM)
This is the return on the share price and NAV taking into account both the
rise and fall of share prices and valuations and the dividends paid to
shareholders.
Any dividends received by a shareholder are assumed to have been reinvested in
either additional shares (for share price total return) or the Company’s
assets (for NAV total return).
The share price and NAV total returns are calculated as the return to
shareholders after reinvesting the net dividend in additional shares on the
date that the share price goes ex-dividend.
The figures disclosed in the financial highlights have been calculated as
shown below:
Six months ended
30 September 2025
LTIT
LTIT NAV Share Price
NAV/Share Price at 30 September 2025 a 876.0p 690.0p
Dividend Adjustment Factor* b 1.047 1.052
Adjusted closing NAV/Share Price c = a x b 917.2p 725.9p
NAV/Share Price 31 March 2025 d 952.1p 818.0p
Total return (c/d)-1 x 100 (3.7)% (11.2)%
* The dividend adjustment factor is calculated on the
assumption that the dividend of 42p paid by the Company during the period was
reinvested into shares or assets of the Company at the cum income NAV per
share/share price, as appropriate, at the ex-dividend date.
LTL total return performance
The total return performance for LTL is calculated as the return after
receiving but not reinvesting dividends received over the period.
Six months ended
30 September 2025
LTL valuation
Valuation at 31 March 2025 a £7,893
Valuation at 30 September 2025 b £6,823
Dividend per share paid during the period c £541
Total return (b-a)+c /a x 100 (6.7)%
Treasury Shares
Shares previously issued by a company that have been bought back from
Shareholders to be held by the Company for potential sale or cancellation at a
later date. Such shares are not capable of being voted and carry no rights to
dividends.
-ENDS-
For further information please contact
Victoria Hale
Company Secretary
Frostrow Capital LLP
020 3100 8732
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