8th Sep 2022 16:19
(Alliance News) - abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust PLC on Thursday reported disappointing annual results, but increased its total payouts.
In the year to June 30, abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth reported a net asset total return of minus 27%, compared to plus 42% the previous year. The firm underperformed its reference index, the Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM Index, which returned minus 19%.
The investment fund based in Aberdeen, Scotland reported a net asset value per share of 530.37 pence at June 30, a fall of 28% from the 737.97 pence posted a year before.
The fall in equity values in the first half of 2022 was a "global phenomenon", the company pointed out. Most major equity indices were trading at lower levels this year than the end of last because of concerns relating to the post-Covid recovery and the war in Ukraine.
Despite the challenging investment outlook, abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth proposed a total dividend for the year of 8.10 pence per share, a 5.2% increase on the payout in the previous financial year.
The company's outlook is "particularly complex" but it emphasised that the fund "invests in companies and their management teams, not in markets". It also restated the fund's aim to maintain "a laser focus on identifying the next generation of market leading companies".
Chair Liz Airey said: "The board considers the investment manager's process to be tried and tested and it has yielded good results over the past two decades, albeit interspersed with periods of underperformance at times of market turbulence such as this...The board continues to believe that the opportunities remain for superior returns over the cycle."
Shares in abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth were trading 0.3% lower at 440.49 pence each on Thursday afternoon.
By Chris Dorrell; [email protected]
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