Caledonia Investments will return about £100 million to shareholders through a 20p-per-share special dividend after completing the sale of wealth manager Stonehage Fleming for £290 million, the investment trust said in half-year results published on Tuesday 10 November 2026.

The special dividend will be paid alongside an interim dividend of 3.84p per share, up 4.3 percent on last year's interim payout of 3.68p. The company said both dividends would be paid on 6 January 2027.

Caledonia reported a net asset value total return of 5.4 percent for the six months to 30 September 2026. Net asset value rose to £3.064 billion, or 594p per share, from £2.98 billion, or 568p per share, at 31 March 2026.

Stonehage Fleming sale funds the payout

The sale of Stonehage Fleming, described by Caledonia as its largest private asset, generated a 3.2 times return on the money invested and a 20 percent internal rate of return. The £290 million price was 33 percent above the carrying value recorded in March 2025.

Chief executive Mat Masters said: "All three investment pools contributed to growth, with the investment portfolio delivering a return of 6.0 percent in the period: 12.3 percent from public companies, 0.6 percent from private capital and 4.7 percent from funds."

Caledonia has reinvested about £110 million of the sale proceeds in two new private capital investments: Blue Diamond garden centres and Conquip Engineering, in which it bought a 61 percent stake for £50 million in August. It has kept the remaining £80 million for future investments, while the special dividend returns just over a third of the proceeds to shareholders.

Buybacks continue as discount persists

The board also continued buying back shares during the half year, spending £38 million, compared with £35 million for the whole of the previous financial year. Caledonia ended September with £277 million in cash and no structural borrowing.

The buybacks reflect the wide gap between the share price and the value of the underlying portfolio. The shares traded at an average discount of about 27 percent to net asset value during the six months, and shareholders saw a total return of 3.1 percent in the period, against 16.6 percent from the FTSE All-Share index.

Caledonia, which was founded in 1928 and is based at Cayzer House, 30 Buckingham Gate in London, said it was retaining capacity to fund future investments while returning cash to shareholders. The special dividend is worth about 5 percent of the company's market capitalisation, and the board said the payout would provide an additional dividend return to all shareholders.