18th Jan 2016 14:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bankers Investment Trust PLC on Monday lifted the total dividend for its last financial year by 6.8% to 15.8 pence per share, marking the trust's 49th consecutive year of dividend growth and beating last year's guidance of a minimum 4.0% increase.
The trust's net asset value per share improved by 5.7% to 630.2 pence over the course of the year ended October 31. Revenue earnings per share amounted to 17.22p, up from 15.05p the prior year, with roughly 92% of that amount is set to be returned to shareholders through dividends. Earnings per share from capital returns improved to 32.54p from 8.12p.
Chairman Richard Killingbeck predicted that the dividend for the current financial year will grow by at least 4.4%, despite concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth.
The trust continued its shift away from investing in the domestic UK equity market, according to Killingbeck, who said allocation to overseas equities has resulted in a particular focus on North America and Japan. That trend is expected to continue.
"Overseas markets offer Bankers' an ability to gain greater exposure to higher growth sectors and to global companies within these sectors. As these companies grow their earnings we expect their dividend growth potential to be equal or greater than that to be achieved from our UK equity portfolio," Killingbeck said.
Shares in Bankers were up 0.5% at 583.68 pence on Monday afternoon.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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