City of London Investment Trust held its annual meeting on 29 October after raising its Dividend for a 60th consecutive year, a record its chairman calls the longest of any such run. The latest figures come from annual results published on 16 September for the year to 30 June 2026.

What happened

The trust (ticker LSE:CTY) lifted its dividend 4.0% to 22.15p per share, from 21.30p. Revenue Earnings rose 4.4% to 22.5p, so the payout was fully covered. Another £3.6m went to reserves, taking the revenue reserve to £52.3m, or 10.2p per share.

NAV total return was 21.9%, exactly matching the FTSE All-Share, its benchmark and the index in which it is a constituent on the Hargreaves Lansdown list used for this report. The share price total return was 21.0%. Both were well ahead of the AIC UK Equity Income sector's 13.7%. (LSE:CTY)

The announcement list shows a "Result of AGM" notice on 29 October and a new Kepler Trust Intelligence research item on 2 November. Neither was reviewed in detail for this article, so voting figures are not reported here.

Why it matters for investors

CTY sits in the UK equity income part of the investment trust sector, and managed net Assets of £2.85bn at 30 June. Its ongoing charge was 0.36%, unchanged, with a management fee of 0.3% on net assets up to £3.0bn and 0.275% above that.

Analysis: the size of the trust is now close to that fee threshold, and low charges matter more for an income vehicle, since they take a direct share of yield. Covered earnings and growing reserves both support the dividend record, and both rose last year.

The Inflation comparison is less flattering over a decade. Dividend growth over ten years was 39.3% against UK CPI of 41.7%, although over twenty years it was 136.6% against 78.0%, according to the report. The dividend Yield at June was 3.9%, against 3.1% for the FTSE All-Share and 3.9% for the AIC sector.

The trust trades unusually close to NAV. It sold 9,147,762 shares from treasury and issued 12,407,238 new ones, all at a premium, raising £114.8m. The company says its premium or discount has rarely exceeded 3% over the last 15 years.

How the shares have performed

The shares ended June at 566.0p, up from 487.5p, against NAV per share of 553.4p, up from 472.5p. That was a 2.3% premium, slightly lower than 3.2% a year earlier. No more recent price was retrieved for this report, and daily NAV notices were not opened.

The return attribution is instructive. Gearing added 0.76 points, stock selection cost 0.51 and expenses 0.36, with share issuance adding 0.11, leaving the net difference against the index at zero. Gearing at year end was 4.7%.

The portfolio is heavily large-cap, with 85% in FTSE 100 companies. HSBC, at 6.42%, Shell, British American Tobacco, NatWest and Lloyds were the largest holdings. Banks were 16.8% of the portfolio, and Investment Banking and brokerage 9.7% against 2.9% for the index. New holdings were Big Yellow, ICG, ITV and Rightmove; Beazley, Anglo American, Hays, Mondi and Harbour Energy were among the sales.

What to watch next

The chairman, Sir Laurie Magnus, said the board is "determined to maintain this Leadership position", and that he expects no further Central Bank rate cuts with inflation above target in the US and UK. The fund managers, Job Curtis and David Smith, cited a 3.75% Bank of England base rate.

The managers also see the AI build-out as a major theme, with risks if returns disappoint at highly valued companies. As 58% of investee revenue comes from overseas, currency and global Demand also feed through to dividend income. The monthly factsheet, most recently released on 23 October, is the next regular portfolio update.