10th Mar 2016 12:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust PLC on Thursday said it outperformed its benchmark for the fourth year running in 2015.
The return on net assets, taking capital growth and income together, of the UK stock market as measured by the trust's FTSE All-Share Index benchmark, was 1.0%, JPMorgan Claverhouse said, adding that its own total return on net assets was 6.0% in 2015.
The trust's share price ended 2015 at 602.5 pence, the same level as one year earlier, as the discount at which the shares traded to net asset value widened to 5.9% from 3.4%. The total return, including dividend payments, to shareholders for the year was 3.6%.
The stock was up 0.2% at 555.05p on Thursday.
Chairman Andrew Sutch said the trust has accummulated revenue reserves greater than the amount of last year's total dividend, which rose to 21.5p in 2015 from 20.0p in 2014, amid forecasts that dividend income from UK stocks will fall in 2016. Those reserves are a "cushion" against falling dividends from the trust's portfolio of investments, he said.
"It remains the board's aim to increase the dividend each year and, taking a run of years together, we continue to aspire to deliver increases in dividends that will at least match the rate of inflation. The board is well aware that the outlook for dividend income in the coming years is mixed. However, it reiterates that it does not wish to see the investment managers constrained by the need to generate income; the board remains prepared to utilise the company's revenue reserve to support the dividend should it be necessary," Sutch said.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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