Mercury repurchases stabilise prices

By James Thorneley Mercury European has the lowest share price beta of all the investment trusts in the European sector. The main reason for Mercury's low beta, 0.76 times, relative to the other conventional trusts and the one split cap in the sector, is due to the amount of shares the trust's board has repurchased. Between January 1997 and June 2000 the trust repurchased over £350m worth of shares, reducing its size by more than one-third. The next biggest repurchaser of shares in the sector is Fleming Continental European trust, which has bought in £25.8m worth of equity. Ian B...