20th Jun 2023 08:41
(Alliance News) - Monks Investment Trust PLC said on Tuesday that its net asset value per share fell, while its total return undershot its benchmark.
The Edinburgh-based investment trust said that in its financial year ended April 30, its NAV per share fell 2.8% to 1,058.5 pence from 1,089.0p the prior year.
Shares in Monks Investment Trust were up 0.2% at 997.08 pence in London on Tuesday morning.
Monks said its NAV total return was negative 1.6%, underperforming its benchmark the FTSE World Index, which returned a positive 3.2% for the period.
The company explained that rising inflation and interest rates, combined with weaker demand, undermined investor confidence. This resulted in a sharp contraction of valuations within its portfolio.
"Recent underperformance by growth stocks has wiped out the cumulative gains of the prior years. We are very mindful of the need to return to outperformance, in a variety of market conditions," Monks Investment said.
The firm's pretax loss narrowed markedly to GBP65.9 million from GBP622.0 million the year before.
The board recommended a final year dividend of 3.15 pence, up 34% from 2.35p the previous year.
"The aggressive period of monetary tightening has most certainly not reined in the pace of underlying change in economics, as the latest developments in artificial intelligence demonstrates," said Chair Karl Sternberg.
"The managers remain focused on capturing this change, and finding the winners as the economic landscape shifts, even when overall growth is feeble."
By Will Neill, Alliance News reporter
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