Nick Train apologises for ‘dire’ efficiency as he survives investor vote

Nick Train has apologised again for ‘dire’ performance after surviving a crunch vote on the future of the investment trust he runs.

In an annual meeting for Finsbury Growth & Income, 97 per cent of shareholders backed the stock picker to continue to manage the trust after years of underperformance.

Train, whose firm Lindsell Train has run FGIT since 2000, apologised for the ‘dire’  performance of the FTSE 250-listed company, which is the worst-performing UK equity income trust over one and five years. 

The continuation vote held on Thursday could have led to the removal of Lindsell Train as managers of the trust, or the winding up the company.

Nick Train won a crunch vote on the future of the Finsbury Growth & Income trust

In 2025, FGIT saw its net asset value per share fall 7.6 per cent and its share price lose 6 per cent, while the benchmark FTSE All Share rose 24 per cent over the year.

The trust does not hold stocks in the banking, energy and defence sectors, which have done well in recent months.

Train has repeatedly apologised for the trust’s lacklustre performance but has said he has ‘no intention’ of changing his investment strategy to back UK large caps.

Last week, he doubled down on his ‘lonely’ strategy which he said would pay off for investors, adding that he had bought additional shares in FGIT.

Terry Smith, often called the British Warren Buffett, has also suffered a period of underperformance with Fundsmith Equity.

The fund posted a return of just 0.8 per cent in 2025, compared to the MSCI World index’s 12.8 per cent gain.

In his annual letter to investors, Smith said the growing dominance of a small pool of tech investors and growing numbers of investors moving into passive funds had hurt the fund.

He also said the shift to passive funds, which have gained in popularity because they offer a cheap and profitable alternative in rising markets, could trigger a ‘major investment disaster’.