31st Oct 2013 11:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC Thursday said its performance over the first six months of the year has been strong, outperforming its benchmark in the process.
However, its earnings fell to 9.19 pence per share for the six months to September 30, compared with 12.53 pence in the corresponding period last year.
"It was pointed out in the 2012/13 Annual Report that earnings in the current year were likely to fall; this has been the case," Chairman John Scott said in a statement.
Scottish Mortgage declared an interim dividend of 6.90 pence per share, a 3% increase over last year's interim payment. "It is the board's intention to maintain its progressive dividend policy, although the main focus is on capital growth," Scott said.
Now one of the UK's largest listed investment trusts, Scottish Mortgage said its share price has risen recently due to both asset growth and a narrowing of the discount of its share price to net asset value.
"Scale is important for a number of reasons including the sharing of costs across a broad base, the advantages of greater prominence and the provision of liquidity to existing and potential shareholders," Scott said.
He also added that the company has 36 million shares held in treasury, which could be used to bring the share price into line if it surpasses net asset value.
The company's net asset value per share increased by 12% over the first half, while the FTSE All-World Index fell by 0.4%, Scottish Mortgage said, but noted that its portfolio bears little resemblance to the benchmark.
Scottish Mortgage has a variety of holdings, including blue-chips such as Amazon and Google, as well as shares in online data storage company, Dropbox. It said it was more focused on the longer-term strategic and operational performance of individual companies, rather than what it described as "short-term macro-economic conditions", though it did say that companies were benefiting from the recovery of broader economies.
The trust's shares were Thursday quoted at 1,005.48 pence, down 1.2%.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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