Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust disclosed the name of its soon-to-be fund manager as well as its full year financial results yesterday.

Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust disclosed the name of its soon-to-be fund manager as well as its full year financial results yesterday.

After a successful 12 months for the firm, and 17 years in the fund manager role, Jeremy Tigue will step down on 1 July.

He will be replaced by Paul Niven, head of multi-asset investment at F&C Asset Management and chair on its asset allocation committee. As the succession planning eases in, Tigue will retire towards the end of 2014, after 33 years with the firm.

With regards to Essex-headquartered FCIT’s financial results, the firm had a particularly prosperous 2013. Its share prices grew by 17.9 per cent to 378 pence (630 cents).

The firm benefitted from 2013’s lack of major market setbacks. Its net asset value per share with debt at market value rose by almost a fifth (18.8 per cent) to 424.8p.

Its clients reaped annual dividends of 9 pence per share, up 5.9 per cent from the previous year.

The upcoming acquisition of FCIT’s parent firm F&C Asset Management will play a part in the firm’s future over the next year. The Bank of Montreal’s asset management arm is set to take over in the coming months, in the aim of bringing ownership stability.

FCIT plans to expand its portfolio, making it more globally available. In doing so, it will reduce its UK weighting, investing proceeds in a selection of international-based funds.

Despite its plans for worldwide growth, the firm expects a slowdown in its share prices. In the past five years, its share prices doubled, a feat it does not predict to see again.

F&C Investments is a diversified investment manager, operating from offices in nine countries and manages £82.1 billion of assets for a combination of insurance clients, institutional investors, intermediaries and private individuals.