4th Apr 2025 13:05
(Alliance News) - Global Opportunities Trust PLC on Friday reported modest growth in its net asset value for 2024 and doubled its annual dividend, even as it continued to underperform broader equity markets.
The Edinburgh-based investment trust said net asset value per share with income rose to 374.0 pence as of December 31, from 364.1p a year earlier, a 2.7% increase.
NAV total return for the year was 4.1%, lagging the 7.9% return from the Association of Investment Companies' flexible investment peer group and well behind the FTSE All-World total return index, which gained around 20%.
Global Opportunities Trust does not formally benchmark itself against any index. The company said its investment strategy focuses on long-term real returns by investing globally in undervalued asset classes.
Despite the relatively subdued performance, the trust declared a final dividend of 10.0p per share for 2024, up from 5.0p in 2023.
Total pretax net return more than doubled to GBP4.5 million from GBP1.9 million in 2023, driven by a 7.5p per share capital gain and 7.4p revenue return per share.
However, the share price fell 4.0% over the year to 286.0p, resulting in a widening of the discount to NAV to 24% from 18%. Share price total return was negative 2.4%.
The board acknowledged the growing discount and said it would explore new initiatives to improve marketability of the shares. It appointed Cavendish as a corporate broker in February.
Chair Cahal Dowds said: "The company's NAV rose slightly over the year, but this was not reflected in the share price, such that the discount widened further. To address this, efforts have begun to increase investors' awareness of the company and these will be intensified during 2025."
Global Opportunities said it retained a defensive posture throughout the year, holding over 34% of its net assets in cash or cash equivalents. Direct equity holdings made up about 45% of net assets and returned approximately 8%.
Shares in Global Opportunities Trust were up 0.8% at 292.30 pence on Friday afternoon in London.
By Eva Castanedo, Alliance News reporter
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