Christopher Woodhead
The world is in a certain amount of turmoil at the moment. The tariff war introduced by Donald Trump, combined with the continuing uncertainty over Ukraine and Gaza, mean that the world stock markets have been in a volatile mood. The Trust’s portfolio has suffered in step with the rest of the world’s finances so it is quite difficult to give a snapshot of where we are.
World share prices fell 4.7%, in pound sterling, during the first quarter of 2025. By region, however, share prices fell in the US, but they rose in the UK and the eurozone.
Christopher Woodhead – Treasurer
Shares had ended 2024 with high valuations, especially in the US. That is because, first, it looked as if central banks had tamed inflation. Second, investors expected that President Trump would usher in tax cuts and deregulation. And third, share price gains in 2024 had been concentrated among a narrow group of “winning” companies, mostly in the US.
Each of these presumptions changed in early 2025. Inflation continues to trend above central banks’ targets. As a result, central banks are unlikely to cut interest rates in 2025 by as much as many investors believed just a few months ago. However, we remain well placed to meet all our commitments from the fund and the dividends that it produces.
We are expecting a greater than ever number of students in 2025 and have our research projects at Parri and Cambridge to finance. We would have had to sell off some of our fund to pay for these had it not been for the extreme generosity of the late Ursula Graham. She and her husband Dominick “Toby” Graham were great supporters of the Trust and on her sad demise she left the Trust a very generous legacy of over £100,000 in her will. Most of this has now arrived in our bank account and will contribute greatly to keeping us going in these uncertain times. Read more about Ursula and Toby, himself an escaped PoW.
A great many of our connections and supporters have asked us how they might become more involved with the Trust in addition to attending the annual lunch and receiving emails and updates. We will therefore be launching a Friends scheme which apart, of course, from providing a way to donate regularly to the Trust, will include other ways to contribute to the work of the Trust. The main plank of this work remains giving young Italians study bursaries and a happy and memorable visit to the UK which will inspire them to raise the Trust’s profile within Italy.