3rd Feb 2016 12:21
The World Trust Fund
Interim Management Statement
for the quarter ended 31st December 2015
The World Trust Fund (the "Fund") is publishing this Interim Management Statement in accordance with the Luxembourg law of 11 January 2008 on Transparency requirements (the "Transparency law").
This Interim Management Statement has been produced solely to provide additional information to shareholders as a body to meet the relevant requirements of the Transparency law. It should not be relied upon by any other party or for any other purpose.
This Interim Management Statement relates to the period from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2015 and contains information that covers this period and the period up to the date of publication of this Interim Management Statement.
The Fund aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in companies, in the main closed-end investment companies, whose shares trade at a discount to their underlying net asset value and are listed on international exchanges. For hedging purposes the Fund may also sell short stock indices, stocks, and shares of exchange-traded funds or closed-end funds, not exceeding 100% of the Fund's net assets.
Highlights:
Over the 3 month period from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2015:
· The Fund's diluted net asset value (NAV) rose 7.5% to $4.376 in US$ terms (base currency), compared with a rise of 5.0% in the MSCI All Countries World Index.
· The Fund's share price rose in Sterling terms by 8.9% to 252 pence.
· The discount to NAV (in Sterling) at the end of the period was -15.1%.
· The Fund's underlying holdings had an average weighted discount of -22.5%.
Long Term Performance:
1-Year | 3-Year** | 5-Year** | 10-Year** | |
Share Price £ | +3.8% | +9.1% | +5.1% | +1.7% |
Share Price US$* | -1.8% | +5.6% | +4.0% | +0.2% |
Net Asset Value £* | +6.6% | +11.0% | +6.5% | +2.6% |
Net Asset Value US$ | +0.7% | +7.5% | +5.3% | +1.0% |
MSCI All Countries World US$ | -2.4% | +7.7% | +6.1% | +4.8% |
MSCI AC World Ex USA | -5.7% | +1.5% | +1.1% | +2.9% |
The MSCI All Countries World index is shown solely for the purpose of performance comparison, and in no way reflects the composition of the portfolio.
*Converted using Foreign Exchange rate used by the administrator.
** Annualized.
Top Five Holdings (%): | 31/12/15 | 30/09/15 |
BB Biotech | 7.2% | 6.9% |
Eurazeo | 5.7% | 5.8% |
JPMorgan European Smaller Companies | 5.4% | 5.0% |
General American Investors | 5.4% | 5.7% |
Investor AB | 4.7% | 4.7% |
Top 5 Regional Breakdown (%) | 31/12/15 | 30/09/15 |
North America | 23.0% | 29.2% |
Asia (ex-Japan) | 25.1% | 27.6% |
Europe (ex-UK) | 21.2% | 21.6% |
United Kingdom | 10.8% | 9.6% |
Japan | 9.5% | 9.2% |
31/12/15 | 30/09/15 | |
Long Exposure | 98.8% | 101.0% |
Short Exposure | 0% | 0.0% |
Net Exposure | 98.8% | 101.0% |
Top 10 Country Weightings (%)
| 31/12/15 |
United States | 22.7 |
China | 12.9 |
United Kingdom | 10.8 |
Japan | 9.5 |
France | 5.7 |
Sweden | 4.8 |
Switzerland | 3.8 |
India | 2.9 |
Philippines | 2.3 |
Hong Kong | 2.0 |
Leverage:
As at 31 December 2015 the Fund had no leverage.
Material Transactions and Events:
Since the period end the Fund paid a dividend of 1.0p per share on 15 January 2016 to its shareholders who appeared on its register on 18 December 2015.
Related Shares:
WTR.L