15th Jun 2020 08:37
(Alliance News) - Scottish Investment Trust PLC on Monday said its performance deteriorated in the first half of its current financial year.
The stock was 0.9% lower in London in morning trading at 703.88 pence a share.
The FTSE 250-listed firm said its net asset value per share as at the end of April stood at 843.3p, down from 915.9p as at the end of October 2019 and 912.9p a year earlier.
The investment company reported a share price total return of negative 4.4% for the six months to the end of April and a net asset value per share total return of negative 5.8%.
The company does not have a formal benchmark but noted, by way of comparison, the sterling total return of the international MSCI All Country World Index was negative 5.3% while the UK-based MSCI UK All Cap Index total return was negative 18%.
The trust declared a second quarterly dividend of 5.7p. The target is to declare three quarterly interim dividends of 5.7p in the year to the end of October and a final dividend of more than 5.7p for approval by shareholders at the annual general meeting in 2021.
The first quarterly dividend payment in respect of 2020, of 5.7p, was made in May.
During the first half, 100,000 shares were purchased for cancellation at an average discount of 11% and a cost of GBP600,000.
Scottish Investment Trust said it aims to maintain the discount to NAV at or below 9%. The discount at which the share price traded to the NAV over the half-year period was "more volatile than normal", the company noted, reflecting the extreme market dislocation but finished the period at 6.9%. The average discount over the first half of the year was 9.8%.
"As a trust with over 132 years of history, we know that shocks are a feature of investing and that they present both threats and opportunities for investors," said Chair James Will.
"We believe the current disparity of valuations within markets will favour a contrarian approach and the company is well placed for the future," added Will.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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