Fund managers Michael Lindsell and Nick Train share £ 35million payout

Fund managers Michael Lindsell and Nick Train have shared a £ 35million payout after their company made record profits during the Covid pandemic.

The couple, who founded Lindsell Train in 2000, pocketed £ 17.5million each for the year until January 2021.

And the company’s highest paid director – who is not named but is likely to be Lindsell or Train – received a salary of £ 10.5million on top of the dividend.

Profit before tax fell from £ 73.7million to an all-time high of £ 76.8million after the company took management fees from investors of £ 109.4million and commissions performance of £ 6.6 million.

Lindsell Train is now handling £ 22.8bn of money for savers, up 6.3% from a year earlier due to a mix of customers accumulating in their funds and good investment performance.

In total, the company has paid out £ 48.4million in dividends to its owners. Lindsell, 61, and Train, 62, each own about a third of the company, with the remainder owned by their Lindsell Train Investment Trust and employees. Brand-name fund managers like Lindsell Train tended to perform well during the pandemic, as savers who were holding money during closings looked for a place to invest it.

But the outlook did not look so bright when the pandemic struck in early 2020, scaring investors. Lindsell Train’s Global Equity fund suffered record withdrawals in March 2020, as stock markets tumbled and worried savers withdrew £ 377million, bringing its total assets to £ 6.7bn.

And since the recovery began in earnest last November, with the advent of coronavirus vaccines, Lindsell Train funds have lagged behind their respective indices. But over a longer period, Global Equity and UK Equity funds perform very well.