20th Mar 2015 10:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC Friday said its net asset value declined during 2014 but at a slower rate than its benchmark index, but said it has slashed its dividend.
Dunedin's net asset value declined by 0.4% in the year ended December 31, to GBP106.6 million. This is compared to the company's benchmark index, the FTSE Small Cap (ex Inv Cos) Index which fell 2.7% in the same period.
The trust's share price fell by 15.8% in 2014, and is currently trading down 0.8% to 344.25 pence per share on Friday morning, which represents a discount of under 30% to the net asset value per share, which stood at 510.6 pence per share at the end of December.
"The fall in the share price is disappointing. This has led to a wide discount to net asset value and is largely a reflection of the poor recent performance of the trust," it said.
As a result, the trust sharply reduced its dividend to only 4.7 pence per share compared to 16.5 pence paid per share in 2013. Dunedin said it reduced the dividend due to the lower level of income generated from realisations, which fell to GBP6.1 million.
"It is increasingly hard to predict the prospects for the UK economy. Relative to its European partners, the UK appears to demonstrate reasonable growth and falling unemployment, but it is not immune to external influences, as the fall in the price of oil has demonstrated," added Dunedin.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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