Hambro’s gold fund could pay dividends for first time in decade

BlackRock’s Evy Hambro has hinted his £3.3bn Gold and General fund may be set to pay out dividends for the first time in a decade.

Speaking to the Telegraph Hambro said with an uptick in gold miners returning capital to shareholders, the fund is considering returning income to investors.

"Several gold miners have started returning capital to shareholders and, if we are successful in persuading them to continue doing so, it will not be long before the income will be sufficient for us to consider passing it on to investors - just as the fund did in the 1990s," said Hambro.

According to the report a spokesperson for the group said the prospect of an income payout is months away but added there is a possibility the fund will return cash to shareholders.

"There is a possibility that the fund could pay a dividend to investors at some point in the future," they said.

"We need to be careful that we are not seen to be promising this to our investors, and that it is entirely conditional on the companies continuing to pay dividends."

"Some of the major gold miners such as Newcrest Mining - the leading Australian listed gold company - have increased payouts recently. "Newcrest has doubled the amount it is paying in dividends in the last 12 months as well as having an impressive growth profile," said the spokesperson.

Newcrest Mining is the largest holding in the fund at 8.3%.

Amongst Hambro's top ten are familiar names such as Randgold Resources and Barrick Gold, which have been long standing favourites.

In September Hambro added Fresnillo to the portfolio, the world's largest primary silver producer, which today amounts to 6.5% of the fund.

The fund has returned 155% to investors over the last three years, according to Morningstar.