An option for investors who are seeking both long term capital growth and income from a wide variety of investments around the world. The Bankers Investment Trust is one of the highest yielding companies in its sector and may be considered as a core holding by investors. Many people buy its shares when investing for children or grandchildren as it is widely diversified in medium and large companies globally.

The Bankers Investment Trust buys shares in a wide variety of medium and large companies across the globe. Lead manager Alex Crooke manages a team who have a 'value' investment style aiming to provide shareholders with both long term capital growth and income greater than inflation.

• Asset allocation is undertaken by the Fund Manager and then regional expertise within Henderson is utilised by allocating the management of regional assets to these specialist managers.
• As well as a consistent history of capital growth, the Trust pays one of the highest yields in the Global Growth sector. Please remember that past performance is not a guide to future performance.
• The Trust has one of the best dividend track records in the industry having raised its dividend every year for the past 44 years. Future dividend growth is supported by a substantial revenue reserve. Full details of the Trust's performance.

• Investors need to be aware of exchange rates. Not all the investments in this portfolio are made in Sterling, so exchange rates could affect the value of and income from your investment.
• Global portfolios include a small weighting to Emerging Markets, usually less than 10%, which tend to be less stable than more established markets and can be affected by local political and economic conditions, reliability of trading systems, buying and selling practices and financial reporting standards. Full details of risks.

At last, investors’ attention moved away from the troubles affecting European markets and focused on the progress being made by the US market. In America, new job creation surprised on the upside, while Christmas retail sales were strong and industrial production grew. The US economy appears to be gaining strength, which has led to better prospects for Asian economies exporting goods to America. In addition, China is easing monetary conditions and early indications show that growth has picked up.

Stock markets reacted to the improving global economic conditions, rising in value across the world during January. The strongest regions were in Asia and Emerging Markets, although even the troubled southern European markets participated. Global sectors such as mining, chemicals and financials benefited the most, at the expense of defensive sectors as investors switched holdings.

The Bankers’ portfolio is overweight towards Asia and we have been increasing investments in America for the past year to benefit from the better outlook for economic growth in this region. In the UK we have increased exposure to oil services companies such as Petrofac, which should benefit from new orders. The underweight positions in European retailers should also limit the risks from weak economic growth in Europe leading to increased unemployment. Overall, the asset allocation favours sectors and countries that offer the prospect of surprising on economic growth.

Alex Crooke
January 2012