The trust, which until recently held the beleaguered oil group in its top ten, is maintaining its dividend at three pence, according to its results for the six months to 30 June. BP pulled its dividend last month to divert cash resources into cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
"BP was our third largest holding, but it has now dropped out of the top ten. Its suspension of dividends will reduce our income by about £2.3m in 2010. The rest of the portfolio is showing encouraging growth in income but not enough to make up the difference, although we will have some additional income from resuming stock lending in the second half of the year," manager Jeremy Tigue said.
Holdings split - 30 June 2010
| Name | % Weighting |
| PANTHEON EUROPE III L.P | 2.90 |
| HSBC HLDGS | 2.50 |
| ROYAL DUTCH SHELL B ORD | 2.20 |
| VODAFONE GROUP | 2.10 |
| HARBOURVEST PEP | 2.00 |
| GLAXOSMITHKLINE | 1.90 |
| HV BUYOUT VII | 1.80 |
| CAITHNESS PETROLEUM | 1.70 |
| DOVER STREET VI | 1.70 |
| RIO TINTO | 1.70 |
Source: Financial Express Analytics
He added that the trust's investment in private equity, which had been a drag on the fund's performance the previous year, has boosted it for the period.
The trust's net asset value (NAV) per share for the period was down 3.4 per cent compared to the same period last year to 294.4p. Meanwhile, its share price in the period was down 4.8 per cent to
259p.
Performance over 6-mths
Source: Financial Express Analytics
The impact of BP may explain the trust's half-year returns, as compared with other larger constituents in its Global Growth sector. It also struggled to outperform the other three funds of a similar size in its sector; RIT Capital Partners, the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, and Alliance Trust PLC. Alliance Trust is the only other trust of the four which has BP in its top ten, as of its last published factsheet.
Risk/Reward, 1-yr
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Over the past 12 month period, data shows the Foreign & Colonial trust was neither the best nor the worst performer among similar sized peers, Instead, the data suggests that there is a considerable spread of approaches by managers in the sector.