23rd Apr 2018 13:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - ICG Enterprise Trust PLC on Monday said it outperformed its benchmark in the 2018 financial year, driven by a "continued strong" performance across its portfolio.
The trust reported a total return of 12.5% for the year to the end of January, beating the 11.3% return delivered by the FTSE All-Share Index. The company said that growth was driven by strong operating performance and realisation uplifts.
ICG Enterprise said its portfolio value rose to GBP600.7 million form GBP594.4 million the prior year. It highlighted that the largest 30 underlying companies generated earnings growth of 12% in its portfolio.
Net asset value rose year-on-year to 959.00 pence per share from 871.00p.
The stock was trading 0.9% higher at 813.50p per share on Monday.
At the end of the financial year, the company said that it intends to grow the annual dividend progressively and move to quarterly dividend payments. As a result, ICG Enterprise proposed a final dividend of 6.00p, bringing the total dividend for the year to 21.00p. This represents a 5.0% increase compared with dividend of 20.00p paid the year before.
"This has been another very successful year with continued strong performance and excellent progress against strategic goals," said Chairman Jeremy Tigue. "Our high-quality portfolio should serve us well, and I am confident the company will continue to deliver long term growth ahead of public markets."
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ICG Enterprise Trust