21st May 2018 14:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC said on Monday it outperformed its benchmark index in the first half of its financial year due to strong performance within its portfolio.
The trust's net asset value total return for the six months to the end of March was 2.1%, outperforming the FTSE All-Share index which saw a negative return of 2.3% over the same period.
Net asset value as at March 31 stood at 741.1 pence per share, up 1.1% from 732.8p as at September 30, 2017. Share price at the end of March was 750.0 pence, reflecting a premium to net asset value of 1.2%, up from 0.5%.
Shares in Finsbury Growth & Income Trust were up 1.0% at 813.18 pence on Monday.
Finsbury said that its strong performance for the period was due to company specific factors driving its portfolio performance rather than "industry generalisations", as the trust's holdings in Fidessa Group PLC and Hargreaves Landsdown PLC performed well, while RELX PLC, Unilever PLC and Sage Group PLC stood out as detractors.
Finsbury Growth & Income declared an interim dividend of 7.2 pence per share, up 5.9% from 6.8p the prior year.
"At the start of 2018, I might have hesitated about where to aggressively deploy 6.0% cash, given the strong returns from many holdings in 2017 and I might have wondered if a new holding might've been indicated. Today I'm not saying there aren't new ideas that could be introduced to your portfolio, but I am saying that many existing holdings are looking compelling value to us again," said Nick Train, director of Finsbury portfolio manager Lindsell Train Ltd.
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