For immediate release


PRESS RELEASE

Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust delivers 44th annual dividend increase

Trust sees significant narrowing of discount

LONDON, 3 March 2015 - In its annual results today, Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust ('the Company'), which has recently seen a significant narrowing of its discount, confirmed it has increased its dividend for the forty-fourth consecutive year. Recognising the importance of a rising income stream for its investors, the Company also plans another increase ahead of inflation for

2015.
The 2014 dividend is an increase of 3.3% compared to the previous year. Three quarterly dividend payments of 2.2 pence per share each and a final dividend of 2.7 pence per share, to be paid on 1
May 2015, will bring the total dividend to 9.3 pence. Healthy cashflow from private equity realisations and substantially lower interest payments following repayment of the 25 year 11.25% debenture will help the Company in maintaining its long established record of dividend growth.
The Company reported a NAV total return of 10.3% for the year and a total shareholder return of
13.5%, reflecting its improved rating - the share price having risen by 11.4% to 421.2p. Its benchmark index, the FTSE All World, returned 11.3% over the same period. The Company has outperformed this index over longer time periods of three, five and ten years adding to its record of achieving its objective of delivering long-term growth in capital and income.
The share price discount to the net asset value ("NAV") per share closed the year at 8.1%, the lowest year-end close for 20 years. The discount has since narrowed further. The Board will be seeking to renew its shareholder authority to issue shares, and, furthermore, to buy back shares into treasury with a view to future issuance in the event of the shares trading at a premium to NAV.
During the year, the Company continued to become more global in its investment exposure, by selling £340m UK assets and reinvesting into overseas equities largely through a global multi- manager portfolio of funds. Private equity continued to mature, with the Company benefiting from high rates of return and strong net cash flow. This portfolio has materially outperformed listed investments since inception in 2003.
Paul Niven, Fund Manager of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, said:
"Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust saw further evolution in the past year, as we took steps to take advantage of a broad range of investment opportunities for the benefit of our shareholders. We are now truly global in terms of our investments and have a fully diversified set of investment strategies that we expect will deliver strong performance through time."
Gearing levels generally declined over the year, but were tactically raised towards the end of 2014 to buy European equities during a bout of market weakness. Gearing levels ended the year modestly higher at 9% against 8% at the start of the year. The Company will benefit from significantly reduced borrowings following its longstanding debenture maturing at the end of the

www.fandc.com

financial year. This long-term debt, costing 11.25%, has been replaced with short term borrowings costing between 0.66% to 1.32%.
The Chairman, Simon Fraser, commented:
"Equities remain attractively priced relative to other financial assets. For investors, however, the fragile underlying environment and finely balanced risks makes a conservatively managed growth portfolio, which is globally focused, an attractive prospect. Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust is now more global than ever and, with lower borrowing costs, high cash realisations from our private equity portfolio and a diversified set of individual portfolio strategies we believe that we are well placed to weather any near term volatility in equity markets.
"We expect that the investment approach will continue to evolve under Paul's stewardship and
look forward to continuing our record of delivering strong shareholder returns ."

Highlights of the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust annual results, to 31 December 2014 include:

Annual dividend per share up 3.3% to 9.3p, the forty-fourth consecutive annual increase

Intention to increase dividend for the forty-fifth year in 2015

Net asset value per share total return of 10.3%

Share price up 11.4% to 421.2p

Share price total return of 13.5%

Share price discount narrowed to 8.1% and has since narrowed further

About Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust:

Founded in 1868 - the first ever investment trust

A diversified portfolio provides exposure to most of the world's stock markets, with exposure to over 500 individual companies across the globe

Its aim is to generate long-term growth and income by investing primarily in an international portfolio of listed equities

- ends -

The full results statement is attached.

Press enquiries: F&C Press Office fandc.sc@fticonsulting.comTel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1888 About F&C Investments, a part of BMO Global Asset Management

F&C is focused exclusively on managing money for its clients. It manages assets for a combination of insurance clients, institutional investors, intermediaries and private individuals. F&C invests across all major asset classes - equities, fixed income and property - and has specialist expertise in asset allocation, alternative investments, liability driven investments, multi-manager, private equity funds and Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Investing. The F&C Group includes F&C REIT, a global real estate asset manager.

F&C has a strong footprint in the U.K. and the rest of Europe with assets under management of approximately £83 billion as at June 30, 2014. F&C has a rich heritage that dates back almost 150 years and can be traced back to the founding in 1868 of the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust.



www.fandc.com

BMO Global Asset Management, of which F&C Investments is the European hub, is a global investment organisation providing investment management, retirement, and trust and custody services to institutional, retail and high net worth investors, from 24 offices in 14 countries to clients across five continents. BMO Global Asset Management has £169 billion assets under management as at September 30 2014. BMO Global Asset Management is a part of BMO Financial Group (NYSE:BMO), a fully diversified financial services organization with C$522 billion total assets and more than 47,000 employees as of October 31,

2014.

Disclaimer

Past performance should not be seen as an indication of future performance. The value of investments and income derived from them can go down as well as up as a result of market or currency movements and investors may not get back the original amount invested. The information, opinions estimates or forecasts contained in this document were obtained from sources reasonably believed to be reliable and are subject to change at any time. F&C Group Companies may from time to time deal in investments mentioned herein on behalf of their clients. The source of information in all graphs is F&C unless otherwise stated. F&C Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN: 119230 F&C Management Limited is a member of the F&C Group. The F&C Group is wholly owned by BMO Global Asset Management (Europe) Limited, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Montreal. F&C, the F&C logo, REO and the 'reo' logo are registered trademarks of F&C Asset Management plc. F&C Investments and the F&C Investments logo are trademarks of F&C Management Limited. © Copyright F&C Management Limited

2015. All Rights Reserved. Neither this document nor any part of it may be reproduced by any party whether by photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means or otherwise without the prior approval of F&C Managemen t Limited.

F&C Management Ltd accepts no liability in respect of the information or any views expressed herein which may be subject to change without notice at any time.



www.fandc.com

distributed by