British Empire Sec & Gen Tst PLC
15 November 2006
BRITISH EMPIRE SECURITIES AND GENERAL TRUST PLC
Performance Commentary
This investment management report relates to performance figures as at 31
October 2006.
Over the month NAV was up 1.3%1. This compares to an increase in the benchmark
of 1.9%2, and an increase of 3.0%1 and 1.6%1 for the FTSE All Share and the MSCI
World (£) indices respectively.
Over three years NAV is up 97.4%1 while the FTSE All Share is up 62.7%1.
Manager's Comment
The performance of the Japanese stock market has been disappointing this year.
This is despite the fact that fundamentally Japan looks interesting. Japanese
banks have dealt with their bad loan problems. Land prices in Japan appear to
have bottomed out in major cities and are starting to move up again. Corporate
Japan is on track for record profits and corporate restructuring has led to
rising ROEs. Part of the explanation for the poor performance of the stock
market may be the draining of liquidity from the system by the Bank of Japan
following the end of its 'quantitative easing' policy. This has implications
for other markets also. If the Bank of Japan tightens policy too quickly one
would expect to see a strengthening of the Yen and perhaps an unwinding
of carry trade speculation similar to what we saw in May.
Statistics
Value % 1 mo % 1 yr % 3 yr % 5 yr
Price (£)1 453.8 0.1 14.7 117.0 167.8
Net Asset Value1 436.7 1.3 16.7 93.0 125.2
Net Asset Value Total Return1 1.3 17.7 97.4 134.9
Benchmark2 (£) 1.9 18.1 59.8 54.8
Annual Returns (%) 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
Price1 51.7 36.0 41.6 -12.2 0.8
MSCI World1 23.0 7.2 20.6 -27.4 -14.1
1 Source: Fundamental Data
2 Datastream Global Growth Investment Trust Index(TR) Source: Thomson Financial
Top 10 Equity Holdings %
Investor AB 3.44
Alliance Trust 3.16
Jardine Strategic 2.63
Tokyu Corporation 2.37
Sofina 2.32
Electra Private Equity 2.26
NTT Urban Development 2.13
Lundbergforetagen 2.05
Hutchison Whampoa 2.02
Paris Orleans 1.96
Capital Structure
Ordinary Shares 160,080,089
10 3/8% Debenture stock 2011 £8,514,940
8 1/8% Debenture stock 2023 £14,875,319
Equities index unsecured loan stock 2013 2,837,000
Gross Assets/Gearing
Gross Assets £740 mil.
Debt £30.9 mil.
Actual Gearing (Debt less cash divided by net asset value) -16.2%
Fund Codes
Bloomberg Reuters Ticker / ISIN
BTEM GB0001335081
Geographical Breakdown
Continental Europe 20.5%
Japan 15.3%
Canada / US 5.0%
Asia Pacific 12.8%
UK 24.8%
Liquidity 19.4%
EMEA 2.2%
All figures as at 31 October 2006 unless otherwise stated. All sources Asset
Value Investors Ltd unless otherwise stated. British Empire Securities Trust is
managed by Asset Value Investors Ltd. The price of shares and the income from
them may go down as well as up; they can be affected by exchange rate movements
between currencies and it is possible that investors may not get back the full
amount invested on disposal of the shares. Past performance is no guarantee of
future performance. Investments in emerging markets carries a greater degree of
risk, in particular the volatility of the markets and the local custody and
registration arrangements, which may be less developed than in more mature
markets. There is no guarantee that the market price of shares in Investment
Trusts will fully reflect their underlying Net Asset Value (NAV). This
Investment Trust should be considered only as part of a balanced portfolio, of
which it should not form a disproportionate part. Under no circumstances should
this information be considered as an offer, or solicitation, to deal in
investments. Issued by Asset Value Investors Ltd., which is authorised and
regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.