Murray International (MYI) offers diversified access to the highest growth regions of the world with an attractive 4.5% yield and proven track record of growing the dividend.

Steered by veteran fund manager Bruce Stout, Murray International is one of the few investment trusts to post a positive return for the year, with the shares up 5.2%, helped by a narrowing discount as investors acknowledge improved performance.

The underlying assets are up 3.6% compared with a 7.7% fall in the MSCI World All Cap index according to data provider Morningstar. This is impressive given the poor returns posted by many global growth funds which have struggled in a rising interest rate environment.

Murray International has a long history of dividend growth and has built up revenue reserves equivalent to almost one year’s full dividend payment according to research house Stifel.

Investment trusts can dip into revenue reserves to maintain dividends during difficult times to smooth payments to investors. For example, Murray International maintained the dividend through the pandemic-stricken 2020, a time when many companies cut or suspended their cash payouts to shareholders.

Stout focuses on parts of the globe offering the best growth prospects. He has over 35 years of investment experience and has worked in Latin America and Asia during his career, gaining local knowledge across various emerging markets.

Unusually for growth investing, Stout allocates money to fixed-income securities which represent around 8% of the portfolio, mainly via investments in emerging market bonds.

The trust’s objective is to achieve strong growth in income and capital over time by employing a ‘bottom-up’ stock picking approach.

In his latest investor letter Stout said the portfolio remains defensively positioned with a widespread emphasis on real assets.

He views this as appropriate given ‘prolonged economic uncertainty and the negative consequence that unchecked inflation has on currencies, wealth and prosperity’.

The trust’s largest holding is Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, which runs nine airports in south-eastern states including Cancun.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is the second largest holding in the portfolio. Other investments include tobacco seller Philip Morris (PM:NYSE), semiconductor firm Broadcom (AVGO:NASDAQ) and pharma business Abbvie (ABBV:NYSE). 

Murray International’s shares trade a small premium to net asset value (1.4%) and come with a 0.57% ongoing charge.

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