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.

The US economy continued to show favourable progress in March, with data indicating improving retail sales and job creation. Over the past 12 months the US recovery has comfortably outstripped expectations, creating over two million new jobs in 2011; industry has also benefited from very low gas prices, as a result of increased shale gas production. The lack of austerity or tax increases has additionally helped the overall economy and the region remains an area we favour; we have steadily increased our exposure over the last year, with direct US investments currently representing 24% of Bankers’ assets.

News from Asia, and China in particular, however, was not so favourable during March. Although their economies are still advancing, there are signs of slowing growth in both new construction and exports. The fear of slowing commodity usage had a knock-on impact to mining shares during the month, resulting in the sector being the worst performing globally. The UK market, where a significant portion of the world’s mining companies are listed, was therefore one of the worst performing regions.

Bankers’ underlying stock selection has continued to reward in both the US and Europe, with both portfolios substantially outperforming their local indices through the month. Our preference for companies with reliable cash flows and potential for good dividend growth is contributing to solid stock selection. This should allow the Trust to build on its record of 45 years of consecutive growth in dividends paid out to shareholders.

Alex Crooke
March 2012