1st Apr 2026 11:02
(Alliance News) - JPMorgan American Investment Trust PLC on Wednesday hiked its dividend despite total returns lagging behind the company's benchmark in 2025.
The trust operates a high-conviction, "best ideas" approach to investing in US-listed value and growth stocks.
Net asset value per share, with debt at fair value, was 1,153.3 pence at December 31, up from 1,115.7p on-year. With debt at par, NAV per share was 1,149.8p, up from 1,109.9p.
NAV total return at fair value was 4.6%, compared to a 9.6% return for the firm's benchmark, the S&P 500. Whilst "disappointing", this partly reflected depreciation of the dollar against the pound, JPMorgan American said.
The investment trust also argued that its "underperformance was very much the result of the company's bias to high-quality, more reasonably valued growth and value stocks".
"In contrast the equity market was led by many lower quality and highly valued stocks and hence the portfolio lagging the index was unsurprising in the circumstances," JPMorgan American said.
Top contributors included HCA Healthcare Inc, Morgan Stanley, Broadcom Inc and Tesla Inc, while Nvidia Corp, Oracle Corp and UnitedHealth Group Inc were among the year's detractors.
By the end of December, JPMorgan American had exited its stake in UnitedHealth, as well as closing positions in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli Lilly & Co. It added Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Sciences Inc to its portfolio in 2025.
"The board remain confident that the investment process remains appropriate and should deliver outperformance against the benchmark over time," JPMorgan American stressed.
Its shares traded between a premium of 2.1% and a discount of 11.5% to NAV in 2025, ending December at a discount of roughly 2.7%.
JPMorgan American shares were up 1.5% to 1,0842.001 pence on Wednesday morning in London, having gained 9.1% over the past year.
The company proposed a final dividend of 8.75p per share, up 6.1% from 8.25p a year before. This lifts the total dividend by 4.5% to 11.5p from 11.0p.
"The uncertainties I flagged in my last report persist. Geopolitical tensions remain elevated, complicated by rising uncertainty regarding relations between the US and its western allies, while the full impact of US tariffs is yet to register on US inflation and growth. More recently has been added the escalation in conflict within the Middle East with as yet little clarity how events will unfold," Chair Robert Talbut comented.
"Even against such a backdrop, US equity indices reached record highs in 2025, and despite recent events remain close to this towards the end of the first quarter. This resilience gives good cause for optimism about the prospects for US companies, and the market, over the coming year and beyond," Talbut continued.
The chair stressed that "US businesses remain at the forefront of the AI revolution and other cutting-edge technologies".
"The board therefore shares the portfolio managers' optimism regarding the outlook for the market," Talbut concluded.
By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter
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