Murray Income (MUT ) manager Aberdeen will be replaced by Artemis in a bid to turn around performance at the ‘dividend hero’.

Following a strategic review, the board of MUT appointed Artemis’ UK equity income team made up of Andy Marsh, Nick Shenton and Adrian Frost, which has delivered top quartile returns over 20 years. They will take over the running in the first quarter of next year.

In a stock market announcement, the board said Artemis’ ‘disciplined, long-term approach to value creation’ and focus on compounding income and capital were ‘a strong fit for MUT’s objectives’. They said this would ensure ‘sustainable value’ for shareholders, who have enjoyed 52 years of unbroken increases in the dividend.

The trio of managers already manage £5.3bn in the open-ended Artemis Income fund, where they have delivered annual outperformance of the FTSE All-Share of between 2% and 4% over one, three and five years. The strategy is also top quartile in the Investment Association UK Equity Income sector over one, three, five and 10 years.

Artemis will receive an annual management fee of 0.4% on the first £750m of assets, 0.375% on the next £250m, and 0.35% above this.

The asset manager is waiving the fee for the first nine months of its appointment, which will make a ‘significant contribution’ to the marketing budget of the trust.

Peter Tait, chair of MUT, said the board ‘received a large number of hugely credible proposals’ as part of its strategic review.

However, he was ‘confident that Artemis’ proven UK equity income investment capability, track record, and marketing expertise will position MUT strongly for the future’.

He thanks Aberdeen’s Charles Luke for his ‘long-standing service’.

The move to Artemis marks another milestone in the significant shrinking of Aberdeen’s stable of investment trusts.

In recent years it has merged Abrdn New Dawn with Invesco’s Asia Dragon (DGN ), Abrdn Japan with rival Nippon Active Value (NAVF ), and Abrdn Smaller Companies Income internally with another if its stable, Shires Income (SHRS ).

It lost the North American Income (NAIT ) mandate to Janus Henderson and has two trusts in wind down: Abrdn Latin American Income and Abrdn Diversified Income and Growth (ADIG ).

Artemis runs just one other investment trust, the £132m Artemis UK Future Leaders (AFL ), following the combination of Artemis Alpha with Aurora last year to create Aurora UK Alpha (ARR ).

Winterflood analyst Emma Bird said strategic reviews have often led to mergers or wind-downs recently, so it was ‘interesting’ that MUT had chosen to switch managers.

Unlike many other trusts that have undertaken reviews, MUT ‘does not suffer from being sub-scale…so the board’s decision to change management group in an attempt to deliver improved shareholder returns makes sense in this instance’, she said, adding that a merger was ‘thoroughly considered’.

‘Since the announcement of the strategic review in July, MUT’s discount has narrowed from over 10% to 6%, with investors potentially anticipating some form of exit opportunity,’ Bird added.

‘As this has not materialised, there may be some pressure on the rating in the near term.’