Manchester & London was set up in the 1970s for UK Investors to invest in a fund that attempts to beat the UK index. Nothing has changed since the 1970s as > 90% of the investors in MNL LN are still UK based and we believe such UK investors still want to beat their domestic benchmark. Hence, the benchmark’s relevance is derived from the domicile of the investor. The beauty of Manchester & London is that our purpose is to provide the UK investor with the best risk adjusted performance SO, by design, we do not unimaginatively fit a portfolio around a benchmark as our competitors do. (The latter method is designing for failure).
Further points:

1. The UK benchmark has been used as the Benchmark since the IPO in 1997. That’s a > 20 year history.
2. At times in those > 20 years, every stock in the portfolio has been UK listed. It is entirely theoretically possible that in 20 years’ time, every stock in the portfolio is again UK listed.
3. The Listing Rules remain silent regarding when Benchmarks should be altered.