23rd Mar 2015 18:36
LONDON (Alliance News) - JPMorgan Smaller Companies Investment Trust PLC said Monday the total return on its net assets was a negative 1.3% in its recent half year, though the result slightly beat its benchmark and the discount on the trust's shares to net asset value narrowed.
JPMorgan Smaller Companies said its net asset value per share at the end of the period on January 31 was 886.2 pence, down from 908.0p on July 31, 2014. It noted that its benchmark, the FTSE Small Cap Index (excluding investment trusts), fell by 1.6% over the same period.
The trust's share price total return was slightly positive over the six months, as its discount to net asset value narrowed to 16.7% from 17.8%. The company said it spent GBP2.6 million to buy back 358,124 shares for cancellation during the period to reduce the volatility of the discount.
JPMorgan Smaller Companies shares ended Monday up 0.1% at 781.00p.
"There is likely to be a continuation of economic and political uncertainty over the coming year both domestically and internationally. The forthcoming general election is the least predictable in recent times, we have yet to see how the eurozone will weather the challenges following the Greek election, and growing concerns about deflation are unsettling," said Chairman Michael Quick.
"Despite the uncertainties our managers remain able to identify a good supply of attractive smaller companies with strong balance sheets and growing businesses that can be bought at reasonable valuations," he added.
By Tom Waite; [email protected]; @thomaslwaite
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