Henderson trust introduces performance fee

The board of the Lowland investment trust, run by Henderson's James Henderson, has introduced a performance fee on the vehicle.

The trust's incentive fee is 15% of any outperformance on a total return basis of the FTSE All Share by more than 10% over the average of the last three years.

In addition, the basic management free will change from 0.5% of gross assets to 0.5% of net assets, while the notice period will be reduced from 12 to six months.

Lowland's board says the change to the structure should lead to a reduction in the management fee because it normally operates a degree of gearing.

The performance and basic fee will be capped in any year at a total of 0.75% of net assets. Any performance fee paid will be charged to the capital return and therefore will not impact on the trust's ability to pay a dividend, the board says.

Both changes take effect from 1 October 2010.

The news came as the £209m UK growth and income trust reported a 21.9% NAV return over the 12 months to 30 September, compared to 12.5% for the benchmark. It has also increased its year-end dividend by 1.9% to 27p.