20th Feb 2014 15:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - JPMorgan Mid Cap Investment Trust PLC Thursday said its total return on net assets per share increased more than its benchmark in the six months to the end of December 2013, but cautioned that returns on its portfolio won't be as great in the second half of the financial year.
The investment trust reported a total return on net assets per share of 19%, compared with the return of its benchmark of 18.3%.
Its total return for shareholders was 30.5%, as its own shares narrowed the discount to the net asset value per share.
The board maintained its interim dividend at 5.5 pence per share.
For the six month period, the trust said net revenue after taxation increased to GBP2.6 million, from GBP2.1 million, and earnings per share were 10.86 pence, up from 8.84 pence for the same period the prior year.
"This improvement in the prior year's earnings at the half year stage reflects a greater contribution from special dividends compared to the first half last year; however as the portfolio currently stands a revenue estimate for the full year indicates that earnings will be marginally less than in 2013," the trust said in its half-year report.
The group said the key contributors to performance, in terms of sectors, were support services, and fixed line communications.
"We enter 2014 with gearing in double digits as we continue to find a number of investments where we think the prospective return will exceed the related cost of borrowing. Returns may be more volatile as economies adjust to Fed tapering and interest rates normalising, although we believe this will also provide interesting investment opportunities. However, we would caution against expecting the returns on the Company's portfolio to be as handsome in the second half of our year as the first," it said.
Shares in the trust were trading 0.4% lower at 796.00 pence per share Thursday afternoon.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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