Highlights

• Caledonia Investments reported a 5.4% NAV total return for the six months to 30 September 2026.

• NAV per share reached 594p, with net Assets of £3,064m recorded at the half-year end.

• The trust declared a 20.0p Special Dividend alongside a 3.84p interim, totalling 23.84p per share.

• Completion of the £290m Stonehage Fleming sale delivered 3.2 times invested cost and a 20% IRR.

Long before it became an Investment trust, Caledonia's story began with the Cayzer family's Clan Line shipping Business in 1878, and the family still owns more than half of the company today. That patient, multi-generational approach was on display in the half-year report from Caledonia Investments (LSE:CLDN), which paired a 5.4% NAV total return with a 20.0p special dividend funded by a large disposal. The result puts one of the oldest names among FTSE 250 stocks back in the spotlight.

Half-year results at a glance

NAV per share stood at 594p at 30 September 2026, with net assets of £3,064m.

The investment portfolio returned 6.0% overall. Public Companies led with 12.3%, Funds delivered 4.7% and Private Capital added 0.6%.

The company's September 2026 factsheet showed a share price of 382.5p at the end of that month, a 35.6% discount to NAV.

Stonehage Fleming sale drives the special payout

The standout event of the half was completion of the £290m sale of Stonehage Fleming to US Wealth manager Corient Private Wealth.

Caledonia first took a minority stake in July 2019. Including dividends received, the holding returned 3.2 times invested cost with a 20% IRR, and the price represented a 33% uplift on its earlier carrying value.

At completion in June, chief executive Mat Masters said: "The sale of Stonehage Fleming is a fantastic outcome for Caledonia."

Part of the proceeds is coming back to shareholders. The board of Caledonia (LSE:CLDN) declared a special dividend of 20.0p per share, worth about £100m, plus an Interim Dividend of 3.84p, for a combined 23.84p.

Recycling capital and buying back shares

Around £110m has been reinvested into Blue Diamond, the garden centre operator, and Conquip, keeping the Private Capital pool active.

Caledonia also allocated £38.1m to share Buybacks at an average discount of 37%, a programme that added 4.3p to NAV per share.

Liquidity remained ample, with £277m of cash and £325m of undrawn facilities giving total Liquidity of £602m.

Discount, private valuations and what to watch

The persistent gap between share price and NAV remains a defining feature of the stock, which is why the buyback activity matters.

The modest 0.6% return from Private Capital contrasts with the double-digit gain in listed holdings, so valuations of unquoted businesses, including top holdings AIR-serv Europe and Butcombe Group, remain a key variable.

The Funds pool, spread across around 80 funds with about 45 private capital managers, also depends on underlying exits to crystallise value.

Nearly a century of compounding

Caledonia (LSE:CLDN) traces its corporate shell to 1928, joined the London Stock Exchange in 1960 and converted to investment trust status in 2003. Its factsheet records 59 years of dividend growth. This half-year adds a large one-off payout to that record while the core pools continue to compound across public, private and fund investments. Public Companies made up 32% of NAV at the end of September, Funds 33% and Private Capital 25%, according to the factsheet.