The benefits of income, the value of Merchants.
Annual Report 31 January 2026
Financial highlights, insights and analysis from The Merchants Trust PLC for the financial year ended 31 January 2026
Financial Highlights
Chairman's Statement
Key Performance Indicators
Investment Manager's Review
Case study: Tate & Lyle
Case study: Serco
Case study: Hikma Pharmaceuticals
Investment portfolio
Strategic Report
Governance
Financial Statements
Investor Information
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This digital report contains additional narrative, summary information and multimedia content, and does not comprise The Merchants Trust PLC's statutory accounts for the purposes of section 435 Companies Act 2006. The Merchants Trust PLC's statutory annual accounts and auditor’s report thereon for the year ended 31 January 2026 are contained in the Annual Report available here and on the FCA’s National Storage Mechanism. Certain pages in this digital report include information relating to the same financial year.
Dividends can be funded from revenue profits in the year and from brought forward reserves.
Merchants was founded in 1889 by some of the leading financiers and lawyers of the day. Its name derives partly from the firm which set it up, Bensons, who historically had been merchants themselves.
The trust invested internationally at the outset, putting up money for the building of railways in North America and Africa, as well as into other types of commercial ventures such as breweries. It also held government bonds. This diversification served it well during some difficult times including the two World Wars and the Wall Street crash.
From a very early stage, Merchants also started doing what it has become so good at – paying regular, increasing dividends to its shareholders. During its first 50 years up to 1939, it paid average annual dividends of 7.5%. Since the late 1980s the company’s investment universe has been primarily high yield, blue chip UK companies in the FTSE 100 Index.
Left to right: The streets outside the Bank of England, shown here in 1890. The Merchants Trust’s founding Memorandum and Articles of Association were signed in February 1889 by the trust’s Board of Directors at the offices of Murray, Hutchins and Stirling, Solicitors, perhaps 250 yards to the right of this scene; Robert (Robin) Benson, founder, shown here in 1887; Merchants was an early investor in the Chicago Great Western Railway, which linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas; The Merchants Trust Balance Sheet for 1926.
