Your vote counts: investment trust AGMs in October 2024

October is a quieter month for investment company annual general meetings (AGMs), with just seven on the slate, more than half of which come from UK-focused sectors.

Here, we round-up some of the most relevant AGMs in the month.

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Pantheon International

The private equity giant Pantheon International Ord (LSE:PIN) will welcome shareholders to its AGM in the middle of October. PIN invests in a global, diversified portfolio of private equity-backed companies, using a mixture of direct company investments and private equity funds managed by leading PE firms.

PIN has been busy over the past 12 months, since implementing a revised capital allocation policy. Part of this was an initial allocation of up to £200 million for share buybacks, which was completed in June. The buyback programme contributed 4.7 percentage points of PIN’s 6.1% net asset value (NAV) return in its previous financial year.

Shareholders will vote on whether to give PIN the authority to buy up to 69.6 million shares back in the next 12 months at the AGM.

The discount remains high, though, at 36.1%. One of PIN’s directors, John Burgess, bought a total of £3.1 million shares in PIN in six separate tranches in August via his private trust, the November 1990 Trust.

Artemis Alpha

Shareholders in Artemis Alpha Trust Ord (LSE:ATS) are likely to grill the board about the benefits of merging with fellow UK All Companies trust Aurora Ord (LSE:ARR), which was announced at the start of September.

ATS’s shareholders will vote on the merger in October, with the board saying that large investors representing almost a third of the shares held in each trust have expressed support for the proposal.

A cash exit will also be available for up to 25% of ATS’s shares for those not keen on owning the new strategy. Nearly two-thirds of ARR’s portfolio is held in companies owned by ATS, so the pair have some synergies already.

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Artemis Alpha had stunning performance in 2021, with shares surging 64.8% in the calendar year versus a gain of just 21.5% for the FTSE All-Share. That was followed by 12 months of poor relative performance, with shares falling 33.5% versus a 1.6% gain for the benchmark.

The past couple of years have been less eventful, but the small size of the trust – it has a market capitalisation of £123 million – has led the board to recommend the move.

The fees that shareholders pay are also expected to fall, with ARR not charging a management fee, instead being compensated by a performance fee paid in shares.

Mid Wynd International

Mid Wynd International Inv Tr Ord (LSE:MWY) recently had a change in management, with the investment manager moving from Artemis to Lazard Asset Management. The new strategy provides MWY investors with an opportunity to access a strategy historically reserved for institutional investors under managers Louis Florentin-Lee and Barnaby Wilson.

The managers look for companies that have demonstrable compounding characteristics, which include having a competitive advantage within their industries, high returns on capital and strong management teams that can effectively allocate capital to reinvest and facilitate long-term growth.

One notable event at the AGM, to be held at The Bonham Hotel in Edinburgh, will be the retirement from the board of chair Russell Napier, who has served as a director of MWY since 2009 and been chair for the past four years.

Shareholders will be asked to vote on whether David Kidd, who has served as a board member since 2016, should succeed Napier as chair.