31st May 2016 07:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - The Scottish Investment Trust PLC on Tuesday said it has a portfolio of companies which "offers the prospect of good long-term returns" but has retained GBP36 million, or 5.0% of shareholders' funds, of uninvested borrowings which can be deployed at an opportune time.
The investment trust said its net asset value per share total return was 4.0%, with borrowings at market value, and its share price total return 4.4%, in the six months ended April 30. The trust declared an interim dividend of 5.25 pence per share, versus 5.00p a year earlier, an increase of 5.0%.
The discount at which the share price traded to the NAV was "more volatile" than in previous reporting periods but finished the period at 8.6% based on the ex-income NAV with borrowings at market value, the trust said.
Although the trust does not have a formal benchmark, it said that by way of reference over the period the FTSE All-World Index total return was 4.8% and the FTSE All-Share Index total return was 0%.
"This is the first report covering a full period during which the more focussed, contrarian, investment approach adopted by Alasdair McKinnon and his team has been deployed. It is pleasing, even though we focus on long-term returns, that this approach has demonstrated early benefits with the company ranking in the first quartile of its AIC Global peer group over the period," Chairman James Will said in a statement.
"The geared equity portfolio contributed 5.2% but this was not fully reflected in the NAV, largely due to the change in value of our long-term borrowings, interest costs and the decision to repurchase a fifth of our secured bonds," Will said.
Shares in Scottish Investment Trust were trading down 0.8% early Tuesday morning at 609.00 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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