First Trust High Income Long/Short Fund Increases its Monthly Common Share Distribution to $0.124 Per Share for May

WHEATON, Ill.--()--First Trust High Income Long/Short Fund (the “Fund”) (NYSE: FSD) has increased its regularly scheduled monthly common share distribution to $0.124 per share from $0.1232 per share. The distribution will be payable on May 15, 2017, to shareholders of record as of May 3, 2017. The ex-dividend date is expected to be May 1, 2017. The monthly distribution information for the Fund appears below.

First Trust High Income Long/Short Fund (FSD):

Distribution per share:     $0.124
Distribution Rate based on the April 19, 2017 NAV of $17.94: 8.29%
Distribution Rate based on the April 19, 2017 closing market price of $16.84: 8.84%
Increase from the previous distribution of $0.1232: 0.65%
 

A portion of this distribution may come from net investment income, net short-term realized capital gains or return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax status of all 2017 distributions will be made after the end of 2017 and will be provided on Form 1099-DIV.

Effective with the monthly distribution declared on February 21, 2017, and continuing for all distributions declared during the following eleven months, the Fund’s Board of Trustees approved the commencement of a distribution policy that provides for the declaration of monthly distributions to common shareholders of the Fund at an annual minimum fixed rate of 8.5% based on the Fund’s average monthly NAV per share over the prior twelve months.

The Fund is a diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide current income. The Fund has a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing, under normal market conditions, a majority of its assets in a diversified portfolio of U.S. and foreign (including emerging markets) high yield corporate fixed-income securities of varying maturities that are rated below-investment grade at the time of purchase.

First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund’s investment advisor, along with its affiliate, First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately-held companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset management and financial advisory services, with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $104 billion as of March 31, 2017 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts.

MacKay Shields LLC (“MacKay”) serves as the Fund’s investment sub-advisor. MacKay is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Investment Management Holdings LLC. MacKay is a multi-product, fixed income investment management firm with approximately $93.9 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2017. MacKay manages fixed income strategies for high-net worth individuals, institutional clients and mutual funds, including unconstrained bond, global high yield, high yield, high yield active core, municipal high yield, short duration high yield, low volatility high yield, municipal short term, core investment grade, municipal investment grade, core plus, core plus opportunities, convertibles, emerging markets credit, and bank loans.

Past performance is no assurance of future results. Investment return and market value of an investment in the Fund will fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Principal Risk Factors: The Fund invests in non-investment grade debt instruments, commonly referred to as “high-yield securities”. High-yield securities are subject to greater market fluctuations and risk of loss than securities with higher ratings. Lower-quality debt tends to be less liquid than higher-quality debt.

The debt securities in which the Fund invests are subject to certain risks, including issuer risk, reinvestment risk, prepayment risk, credit risk, and interest rate risk. Issuer risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer. Reinvestment risk is the risk that income from the Fund’s portfolio will decline if the Fund invests the proceeds from matured, traded or called bonds at market interest rates that are below the Fund portfolio’s current earnings rate. Prepayment risk is the risk that, upon a prepayment, the actual outstanding debt on which the Fund derives interest income will be reduced. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due and that the value of a security may decline as a result. Interest rate risk is the risk that fixed-income securities will decline in value because of changes in market interest rates.

In times of unusual or adverse market, economic, regulatory or political conditions, the Fund may not be able, fully or partially, to implement its short selling strategy. Short selling creates special risks which could result in increased volatility of returns and may result in greater gains or greater losses.

The Fund invests in securities of non-U.S. issuers which are subject to higher volatility than securities of U.S. issuers. Because the Fund invests in non-U.S. securities, you may lose money if the local currency of a non-U.S. market depreciates against the U.S. dollar.

The risks of investing in the Fund are spelled out in the shareholder reports and other regulatory filings.

The Fund’s daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net asset value per share as well as other information can be found at www.ftportfolios.com or by calling 1-800-988-5891.

Contacts

First Trust High Income Long/Short Fund
Press Inquiries: Jane Doyle, 630-765-8775
Analyst Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784
Broker Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784

Contacts

First Trust High Income Long/Short Fund
Press Inquiries: Jane Doyle, 630-765-8775
Analyst Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784
Broker Inquiries: Jeff Margolin, 630-915-6784