2nd Aug 2019 13:22
(Alliance News) - Diverse Income Trust PLC said on Friday its net asset value fell in its recently ended financial year, but it outperformed two of its three benchmark indices.
In the year to May 31, the company's net asset value fell 9.4%, beaten by the FTSE All-Share Index, which suffered a net asset value fall of 7.1%.
The FTSE SmallCap Index, excluding investment companies, and the FTSE AIM All-Share Index both lost about 11% in the same period.
Diverse Income Trust, which invests in a portfolio of both large and small quoted companies, said Brexit anxiety hurt share prices of UK smallcaps in the latter part of the financial year.
Net asset value per share fell to 95.17 pence from 105.09p in May 2018 and on an adjusted basis it fell 9% to 98.90p from 108.64p.
The trust raised its total dividend for the year by 5% to 3.8p from 3.6p. Interim dividend for the period rose 7% to 3.65p from 3.4p. The recommended special dividend for the period, however, fell 30% to 0.16p from 0.23p.
Chair Michael Wrobel said: "In the shifting market environment, we believe that the agile and well-capitalised will have greater opportunities. The board believes that the company's multi-cap approach is well suited for this. Uncertainty about Brexit has led to a degree of caution among asset allocators regarding their UK weightings.
"This has left the valuations of many UK quoted companies, and most particularly UK smallcaps, standing at undemanding levels. Already this has been reflected in a significant uptick in takeovers in the company's portfolio and the manager anticipates that this trend could become much broader once the detail of Brexit is determined. In summary, we believe the company continues to be well-placed to deliver premium returns, in spite of the current unsettled geopolitical background."
Shares in Diverse Income were down 1.4% at 86.00 pence each in London on Friday afternoon.
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