1st Apr 2022 08:49
(Alliance News) - JPMorgan American Investment Trust PLC said on Friday it pretax return rose 2021 as the company recorded increased investment gains.
Pretax return rose 47% to GBP332.9 million from GBP225.8 million. Net asset value return stood at 28%, This slightly underperformed its benchmark index, the S&P 500, which posted a NAV return of 30%.
JPMorgan American is a fund managed by JP Morgan Asset Management invests in S&P 500 index constituents and is based in New York.
Net asset value per share rose 27% to 771.9 pence at December 31 from 610.1p at the same time the previous year. Gains on investments rose 52% to GBP322.8 million in 2021 from GBP211.8 million the previous year.
Some 96% of its portfolio was invested into 40 US large-cap stocks, JPMorgan American explained. It said its position in the information technology and consumer discretionary sectors trailed their benchmark peers, detracting from its overall performance.
Within IT, JPMorgan American said it saw weak returns from payments companies, including Global Payments Inc, Mastercard Inc and PayPal Holdings Inc. In the consumer discretionary space, the company said its lack of exposure to Tesla Inc for some of the year also hindered its performance.
It continued that this was partially offset by positive contributions from financials, and by its stock selection in healthcare and consumer discretionary.
The largest contributions to returns in financials came from its positions in Bank of America Corp, Capital One Financial Corp and Charles Schwab Corp. In healthcare it benefited from medical device company Dexcom Inc.
Chair Kevin Carter said: "Since the company changed the investment approach on June 1, 2019, it has outperformed its benchmark index by 5.9% through to the end of the financial year, providing a total return to shareholders of 73%, compared with a benchmark return of 67%. This is an annualised outperformance of 2.2% over the 31 months since the changed investment approach."
The company declared an increased final dividend of 4.50p in 2021, up from 4.25p a year prior, giving a total dividend payout of 7.0p per share. This represents a 3.7% increase on the previous year's payout of 6.75p.
Shares in JPMorgan American were down 0.3% at 768.54 pence on Friday morning in London.
By Heather Rydings; [email protected]
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