The chair of Majedie Investments (MAJE ) has assured shareholders the ongoing charges ratio (OCR) will fall in the upcoming year as manager Marylebone Partners decreases its allocation to expensive external fund managers.

Writing in the annual report, Christopher Getley said the 0.7% increase to fee, which brought the overall charge to 2%, or £3.4m, reflected external managers’ skills in specialist areas that require substantial original research work, with each specialising in a niche sector or geographic region.

Annual results showed the ongoing charges of underlying funds totalled 0.4% of net asset value, with external managers making up 62% of the £143m fund. In 2022, ongoing charges of 1.3% totalled £1.7m, reflecting the different portfolio makeup and fewer total assets.

Noting the ‘core function of boards’ was to ‘bear down on costs where possible’, Getley said exposure to cheaper special investments, which currently total 9% of the portfolio, was expected to rise over time, adding that the OCR should fall in 2024.

‘The remaining underlying costs are made up of core management, administrative and transaction costs; as all activities are now outsourced the board expects that these costs will also fall in 2024,’ Getley said.

The annual results to September, which include the few months prior to Marylebone’s appointment at the start of the calendar year, showed the multi-asset global portfolio delivered returns of 14.1%, with shareholder returns almost twice that at 26.2%. The discount to net asset value narrowed from 26% to 19%.

Getley highlighted the new era of structurally higher rates, variable liquidity, more geopolitical and cyclical volatility and greater fundamental price dispersion within markets was the sort of environment in which Marylebone’s should thrive.

Portfolio manager Dan Higgins (pictured) said he was not bullish at an asset class level, but added there was no shortage of attractive situations that meet Marylebone’s selection criteria.

Going forward the board will continue to declare quarterly dividend payments of 0.75% of net asset value, totalling 3% over the year.

On a year to date basis, shareholder returns of 26.4% rank the trust second in the global equity sector, ahead of the likes of Scottish Mortgage (SMT ), which has risen 10%, and behind only Manchester & London (MNL ), which has become a US technology specialist investor, generating returns of 72%, according to Numis data.

While shares in the Barlow family-backed trust dropped 2.5% to 225.2p in response to the results, they still trade at an 8% discount to the most recent NAV reading of 243.8p as at November.