share price, page-7

I think they have invested the money fine since inception, just that the last financial year was a little sluggish compared to previous years. That will happen to good investors who run a concentrated portfolio. In fact plenty of good investors can underperform for far longer periods. Buffett has gone through far longer periods underperforming. I mention that since it seems Alex doesn't mind the media comparing himself to Buffett!

The answer may be that it has a market cap of $138 million, but costs of running the fund have averaged over $7 million a year for the last 2 years. I can't find the numbers, but my guess would be their stock picking performance at the gross level would look fine since inception. Like with many LICs, it's just that this can get deflated in terms of shareholder return numbers you quoted earlier on the thread. Fees are taken out and potentially a wide discount develops to NTA.

When they perform well, a lot of shareholder’s money gets leaked out in performance fees. Many shareholders are perfectly happy with that. But the share price at a large discount to NTA may mean plenty of prospective investors are not as happy, and need a discount to compensate for this?

I do not hold TOP by the way, but always keen to observe the stocks they are investing in.