Data as at: 27/03/2024

Gearing

Gearing policy

The Company’s normal policy is to be geared in the belief that long term investment returns will exceed the costs of gearing. This gearing will be obtained through the use of borrowing and/or through the use of CFDs to obtain exposure to securities selected by the Investment Manager. The effect of gearing is to magnify the consequence of market movements on the portfolio and if the portfolio value rises the NAV will be positively impacted, but if it falls the NAV will be adversely impacted. The Board is responsible for the order of magnitude of gearing in the Company while the Investment Manager decides gearing on a day-to-day basis within a range set by the Board. Gearing is reviewed at each Board meeting.

Ways in which investment companies can magnify income and capital returns, but which can also magnify losses.

At its simplest, gearing means borrowing money to buy more assets in the hope the company makes enough profit to pay back the debt and interest and leave something extra for shareholders.

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how gearing works table

However, if the investment portfolio doesn’t perform well, gearing can increase losses. The more an investment company gears, the higher the risk.

Investment companies can usually borrow at lower rates of interest than you’d get as an individual. They also have flexible ways to borrow – for example they might get an ordinary bank loan or, for split capital investment companies, issue different classes of share.

Not all investment companies use gearing, and most use relatively low levels of gearing.

An indication of the maximum and minimum levels that the company would expect to be geared in normal market conditions.

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