History of Herald Investment Trust plc

Herald Investment Trust plc (HIT) raised £65m at launch in February 1994 amidst a plethora of other investment trust issues. The remainder of the year proved difficult for trading in smaller companies, but the manager still managed to outperform the benchmark by 11.6% to December 1994. Importantly, the manager was able to invest gently into falling markets which provided a solid base for the performance to come through in 1995.

The manager was awarded the Investment Adviser “Smaller Companies Investment Trust - Manager of the Year” for 1995, also coming second in the same category for the Micropal awards in the same year. In March 1996, HIT had a successful 'C' share issue, raising a further £30m. By the end of 1996 its net assets had reached £130m.

Further strong performance saw HIT topping the smaller companies performance tables for both one and three years, based on its Net Asset Value, in both 1997 and 1998. HIT attained a 5 year record in 1999, and by the end of that year was the second best performing of all investment trusts (all geographies, all sectors) based on its Net Asset Value over a 5 year period (Source: Trustnet). The NAV performance of HIT compares favourably with those of the 20 trusts (with a multitude of disparate remits) as featured in the Investors Chronicle article of April 1994, all of which were launched at a similar time.

Investment Policy

The objective of HIT's manager is to secure an attractive level of overall return for its shareholders, primarily from capital growth, over the life of the company. Risk is spread across a diversified portfolio of quoted securities in smaller companies which specialise in the communications and multimedia sectors. HIT has specific investment guidelines, including that investee companies must have an equity market value of up to ~£500m at the time of initial investment. Securities acquired by the company will normally be quoted on the London Stock Exchange (including the Alternative Investment Market) or equivalent overseas markets (e.g. NASDAQ). HIT's policy is to adopt a long term approach to investment and it is managed to enable it to qualify as an investment trust under Section 842 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. It is not intended to invest in pharmaceuticals or biotechnology stocks.

Corporate Governance

The investment trust operates an audit committee and a nomination committee. The audit committee assists the board in carrying out responsibilities relating to the company's accounting policies, internal controls and financial reporting functions. The nomination committee are responsible for reviewing the operation and performance of the board and the appointment of suitable directors. For more details on each committee's terms of reference click here

Individual Savings Accounts, PEPs & Savings Schemes

The Ordinary Shares of HIT are qualifying investments for ISAs and PEPs. Although Herald Investment Management Limited, the manager of HIT, does not provide its own ISA at this time, there are many suppliers of self-select ISAs into which Herald Investment Trust shares can be placed. You should consult your Financial Advisor for further information.

HIML does not operate a Savings Scheme for the Herald Investment Trust.