Dividend Declaration and Portfolio Update

RNS Number : 9947K

Investment Company PLC

08 January 2021

 

LEI: 2138004PBWN5WM2XST62

The Investment Company PLC

(the "Company")

Interim Dividend Declaration

Portfolio Update

NAV Announcements

The Company is pleased to provide an update following the approval of the Company's new investment policy and objective at the General Meeting held on 4 November 2020, together with the declaration of an interim dividend.

Dividends

The Company announces that it has declared an interim dividend of 1 pence per ordinary share, payable on 26 February 2021 to ordinary shareholders on the register on 22 January 2021. The ex-dividend date will be 21 January 2021.

Following the implementation of the Company's new investment policy and objective, focused on protecting the purchasing power of its capital in real terms, payment of dividends is not the key objective of the Company.  The Company will therefore discontinue its policy of paying quarterly dividends and will instead make any dividend declarations on an annual basis.  As a result, the directors do not intend to declare any further dividends until after the end of the current financial year ending 30 June 2021 and future dividends, if any, will reflect any excess income from the investment portfolio after accounting for the Company's costs.

Portfolio Update

The Company has made substantial progress in transitioning its portfolio away from the historical income focus and towards the new objectives of protecting the purchasing power of its capital and participating in enduring businesses.  Though this transition is still ongoing, the directors are pleased to provide details of the portfolio as at 31 December 2020, shown in the table below, as an indication of the progress made so far.

Further updates will be provided at the time of the release of the Company's interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2020, which are expected to be released in February 2021.

Unaudited portfolio as at 31 December 2020
Security	Country	Holding	Value (£)	%
Hal Trust	Netherlands	10,000	1,047,261	6.8%
Bakkafrost	Faroe Islands	15,000	785,008	5.1%
Tonnellerie François Frères Group	France	25,000	597,476	3.9%
Unilever	UK	13,300	584,136	3.8%
British American Tobacco	UK	21,000	568,680	3.7%
Franco-Nevada	Canada	6,000	548,975	3.6%
Emmi	Switzerland	700	527,766	3.4%
Lucas Bols	Netherlands	55,000	485,410	3.2%
Rio Tinto	UK	8,320	455,104	3.0%
Strix Group	Isle of Man	208,636	454,826	3.0%
Imperial Oil	Canada	32,000	443,388	2.9%
Barrick Gold	Canada	25,000	416,453	2.7%
Bucher Industries	Switzerland	1,200	402,814	2.6%
ForFarmers	Netherlands	70,000	333,333	2.2%
Safilo Group	Italy	300,000	202,336	1.3%
Diageo	UK	6,600	189,948	1.2%
Total equity participations			8,042,914	52.3%
Six Hundred Group 8% 14/02/2022	UK	500,000	435,000	2.8%
Intercede Group 8% 29/12/2021	UK	450,000	360,000	2.3%
Renold 6% Preference Shares	UK	422,109	363,014	2.4%
Northgate 5% Preference Shares	UK	532,763	181,139	1.2%
Other legacy holdings	Various		118,204	0.8%
Total fixed income & other legacy holdings			1,457,356	9.5%
Invesco Physical Gold ETC	UK	15,000	2,012,364	13.1%
WisdomTree Physical Gold ETC	UK	11,500	1,510,169	9.8%
WisdomTree Physical Swiss Gold ETC	Switzerland	9,000	1,201,558	7.8%
Total gold			4,724,091	30.7%
Sterling Cash			1,221,865	7.9%
Other liabilities net of other assets			(59,053)	-0.3%
Total cash and other net assets			1,162,362	7.6%
Total Assets			15,386,723	100.0%

NAV Announcements

As announced on 5 January 2021, the Net Asset Value ("NAV") per Ordinary Share (including unaudited current period revenue) at 31 December 2020 was 322.43 pence. 

To reflect the long term nature of the Company's portfolio and to reduce the costs and administrative burden on the Company, announcements of the Company's NAV will in future be made on a monthly basis, following the month end, rather than weekly as was the previous practice.

Enquiries

The Investment Company Ian Dighé, Chairman	[phone] [e-mail]
Shore Capital (Financial Adviser and Broker)
Robert Finlay	[phone]
Rose Ramsden
Maitland Administration Services
Faith Pengelly	[phone]

 

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