Half-year Report

RNS Number : 4104V

JPMorgan Claverhouse IT PLC

06 August 2020

 

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

JPMORGAN CLAVERHOUSE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

UNAUDITED HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED
30th JUNE 2020

Legal Entity Identifier : 549300NFZYYFSCD52W53

Information disclosed in accordance with the DTR 4.2.2

The Directors of JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust plc announce the Company's results for the half year ended 30th June 2020.

Chairman's Statement

Performance

The six months to the end of June 2020 reporting period for the Company has been dominated by the Covid-19 virus pandemic.

At the time of my Chairman's statement in March 2020 the UK Government was in the throes of introducing 'lockdown' in the UK, which shut down large parts of the economy as well as imposing significant restrictions on our way of life. The spread of the virus in the UK led to extreme market volatility with significant falls in share prices, as it was difficult to predict the impact that the outbreak would have on both UK and global economies and markets. Between 1st January and 23rd March 2020 the FTSE All-Share Index fell 35.5%; since that date the UK stock market has recouped a significant proportion of those losses and as at 30th June the FTSE All-Share Index stood 19.4% below its level at the start of the year.

Against this backdrop the Company's performance for the six months to 30th June 2020 can be considered in two separate periods. Over the full six months to 30th June 2020 the total return on net assets was -22.3%, an underperformance of -4.8% compared to the Company's benchmark index, the FTSE All-Share Index (total return). All of this decline occurred in the three months to 31st March 2020, resulting in an underperformance of -8.5% compared to the benchmark index in that period. In the three months to 30th June 2020 total return on net assets rebounded to +13.4% and outperformed the benchmark index by 3.2%.

The share price declined from 776.0p at 31st December 2019 to 568.0p at 30th June 2020, reflecting the general market conditions for UK equities during the period. Shareholder return was -25.0% (2019: +10.1%). The net asset value has outperformed the benchmark index since the period end by 1.7% as at 31st July 2020.

The Investment Managers' report below reviews the market and provides more detail on performance.

Revenue and Dividends

Revenue per share for the six months to 30th June 2020 was 10.19p, compared with 16.45p earned in the same period in 2019. As shown in the Statement of Consolidated Income dividend income is 33% lower than in the six months of the corresponding year.

A first quarterly dividend of 6.50p per share (2019: 6.25p) was paid on 1st June 2020. At the time of that declaration in April the Board was conscious of the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic was having on dividends from its portfolio companies, but also recognised that the Company had the benefit of strong revenue reserves.

It remains the Board's intention that the first three quarterly dividends should be of an equal amount and has therefore declared a second quarterly dividend of 6.50p per share (2019: 6.25p) to be paid on 1st September 2020 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 7th August 2020. The Board's dividend policy remains to seek to increase the total dividend each year and, taking a run of years together, to increase dividends at a rate close to or above the rate of inflation. The Company continues to benefit from a relatively high level of revenue reserves, which have been built up over a number of years, and the ability to utilise these, if necessary, to support the dividend. Given the cutting or suspension of dividends by many companies since the beginning of the year, it is likely that the Company's full dividend for 2020 will require some utilisation of the revenue reserves. The Board currently intends to declare an increased dividend for 2020, compared with that for 2019. It is difficult to know whether the payment of lower or even no dividends by many listed companies, including a number in the Company's portfolio, will continue to be experienced in 2021 and beyond; the Board and Investment Managers will carefully monitor this and how the Company's revenue reserves may be affected.

Discount, Share Issues/Repurchases

Discounts in the UK investment trust sector have narrowed in recent months after reaching their widest levels in March, although they generally remain wider than at the beginning of the year because of ongoing uncertainty around the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and the specific impact that the pandemic has had in the UK. However, and probably reflecting the appetite of some investors for regular income at a level higher than paid by many other savings and investment products, the Company's share price traded at close to net asset value or at a premium to net asset value throughout the period. As a result the Company has been able to issue 105,322 shares from Treasury and 1,730,000 new shares at an average premium of 0.93%, raising over £10 million for investment. As at 30th June 2020 the Company's discount (to its cum-income, debt at par, NAV) was 5.0%. There were no share repurchases in the period.

Gearing

The Company's gearing policy is to operate within a range of 5% net cash and 20% geared and the Investment Managers have discretion to vary the gearing level between 5% net cash and 17.5% geared. The Company's debenture was repaid in March 2020 and replaced by loan notes with a lower interest rate, an annualised coupon of 3.22%. In addition, the Company has a revolving credit facility of £40 million of which £20 million was drawn down as at 30th June 2020.

Taking into account borrowings, net of cash balances held, the Company started the period approximately 8.9% geared. As a reaction to the market turmoil in March the Investment Managers reduced gearing to zero. At the end of the period the Company was approximately 12.5% geared.

Environmental, Social and Governance issues

We have seen over recent years the growing importance of environmental, social and governance ('ESG') issues and, more recently, an unprecedented focus on climate change. ESG issues are always considered as part of the Investment Managers' investment and decision making process. Company reporting on ESG issues continues to develop and we expect to say more about this in this year's Annual Report.

Outlook

With the UK experiencing the steepest recession for years, severe strains on the public finances, growth in unemployment and concerns about another spike in coronavirus cases, it seems unclear when the UK economy will recover to its pre-pandemic levels. The ending of the Brexit transition period in December 2020 adds an additional element of uncertainty. We must continue to expect share prices to remain lower than in the last few years and for the markets to remain volatile.

The Investment Managers are maintaining a fairly defensive portfolio at present but are prepared to invest when particular opportunities arise. While we must be prepared for the FTSE All-Share Index and the Company's share price not to reach their previous highs for some time, I believe that the Company can outperform its benchmark index on a relative basis over the medium and long term.

Andrew Sutch

Chairman

6th August 2020

INVESTMENT MANAGERS' REPORT

Investment Approach

We aim to construct a diversified portfolio of our best ideas, comprising both quality growth and value stocks. We also hold a small number of very large stocks by market capitalisation for risk-control reasons. For the patient investor, such an approach will, we believe, produce outperformance of the index in a steady, risk-controlled manner irrespective of market conditions. We also strive to maintain Claverhouse's enviable dividend record by biasing the portfolio towards stocks with growing dividends.

Market Review

The first half of 2020 will be remembered as one of the most extraordinary on record, with investors enduring a roller coaster ride, the likes of which many had not experienced before.

The year started well with investors taking heart from a new majority Conservative government which had not only committed to a firm date for the UK to leave the European Union but also promised large amounts of fiscal stimulus, especially in the north of the country. The economic prospects for the UK were looking up.

But the euphoria was short lived. Attention soon turned to the technicalities and uncertainties of the Brexit transition period and as markets gently fell away in the second half of January, the mood soured further as it became apparent that a hitherto unknown virus, Covid-19, was spreading from its origins in China.

On 31st January, but hardly reported (probably because it was Brexit Day), the UK suffered its first official infection. The World Health Organization soon declared Covid-19 to be a global public health emergency although the UK government remained fairly relaxed, seemingly adopting a policy of herd immunity.

As most global authorities imposed severe measures to counter the spread of the virus, stock markets imploded with travel, leisure and retail stocks being the very worst hit. In 21 trading days in March, the MSCI World index fell 34%, the fastest bear market in history.

The market maelstrom was intensified further by a 30% drop in the oil price, triggered by OPEC and specifically Russia, not cutting supply despite the immediate drop in demand caused by Covid-19. Fear swept across markets and companies soon started to postpone or cancel dividends to help conserve cash. Share prices swung wildly.

Thankfully, monetary authorities and governments around the world moved rapidly, and in the last week in March, initiated a co-ordinated package of unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus packages. Markets took heart from their decisive bold actions and rallied sharply. Despite a rapidly deteriorating economic backdrop and the new UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, forecasting an impending recession 'the likes of which we have not seen before', markets continued to rally strongly buoyed by plummeting interest rates, huge volumes of central bank asset purchasing and the promise of yet further amounts of government support. By the half year end, the FTSE All-Share Index was down 13% from the beginning of the year, but there was, at least, some relief it had rallied 25% from its March low.

Portfolio review

At the start of the period your portfolio was positioned for an economic upturn following the clearing of the political skies both domestically and also in relation to the UK's relationship with the EU. The portfolio was cyclically biased and had gearing by mid-January of some 14%. The portfolio was therefore wrong-footed by the outbreak of the unexpected global pandemic from Covid-19. The rapid sell-off in markets in the first quarter was costly for the fund both in terms of being geared and also for many of the cyclical stocks we held. As the market started to price in an imminent recession, our holdings in consumer facing stocks such as Rank, Taylor Wimpey and JD Sports performed poorly.

However, by the end of the first quarter we had taken swift action in the portfolio by reducing gearing to very low levels and restructuring the portfolio towards more resilient companies including pharmaceuticals and capital-light technology companies such as Avast , Softcat and Aveva. We also increased our holdings in some of the more defensive sectors such as utilities.

As governments and monetary authorities around the world took decisive and pre-emptive action on a huge scale to support both markets and the economy, we started to increase our gearing once more by buying a number of stocks at the new, lower prices. As the market rallied this was beneficial to the portfolio. However, although our stock selection was good in the second quarter, it did not make up for the underperformance of the first quarter.

In these very challenging markets, some of the portfolio's holdings still fared well. Games Workshop rose 32% over the period. The management of this table-top games producer moved very decisively to close down all its physical stores and, with great effect,for several weeks during lockdown focused their attention solely on online sales. With increasing emphasis on healthcare and the search for a Covid vaccine our holdings in both Glaxo and AstraZeneca both performed well. Our holding in Scottish Mortgage Investment trust also performed very well rising 42% over the six month period. The Trust holds a large number of global technology stocks, with its holdings in Amazon and Tesla both being stellar performers.

Our biggest detractor to performance was our holding in the JPM Smaller Companies Investment Trust, the price of which suffered from both the performance of its underlying holdings and the widening of the trust's discount as investor sentiment swung against small, domestic companies. The Company has, however, performed extremely well over the long term. We sold out of our holdings in both the casino operator, Rank and the coach company, National Express, as we thought that neither was well placed for an economy moving into lockdown. Taylor Wimpey's poor performance reflected the halting of all of its housebuilding activities from April.

Your portfolio therefore had a period of two halves, suffering in the immediate aftermath of the unexpected pandemic out-break but following the changes to the portfolio out-lined above, showed much improved performance in the second half of the six month period. Overall though the total return of -22.3% on the net assets of your company (with debt at par) under-performed the benchmark return of -17.5%.

Stock Attribution:

	Average
Top 5 Stocks	Active %	Attribution %	Explanation
Games Workshop	+1.8	+0.68	Shares of this retailer of miniature figurines to hobbyists have performed strongly on news that the company has returned to making online and trade channel sales after disruption from Covid-19, as well recently signing an IP deal with a UK video game publisher.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust	+1.1	+0.48	This tech heavy trust outperformed the markets as many of its holdings were able to continue operations through the lockdown e.g. Amazon.
Compass Group	-0.6	+0.31	Not owning this catering services company added to performance as many of their contracts with offices and events were put on hold during lockdowns. Uncertainty around when their operations may resume weighs on the share price.
GlaxoSmithKline	+2.4	+0.27	Investors flocked into GSK in pursuit of resilient earnings and stable cash generation as their sales should be relatively unaffected by the lockdowns.
AstraZeneca	+0.9	+0.23	This pharmaceuticals company has naturally resilient earnings and stable cash generation which attracted investors during this period of extreme uncertainty.
JP Morgan Smaller Companies Investment Trust	+5.2	-0.77	Although the FTSE Small Cap Index has outperformed the FTSE All Share over the last six months, the discount to NAV on this investment trust has gone from -1% to -15%.
Reckitt Benckiser Group	-1.4	-0.63	Being underweight this global consumer goods company was unhelpful as the dual impact of a weakening pound favouring overseas earners and a rising demand for Reckitt's cleaning products caused this stock to outperform.
Rank Group	+0.2	-0.55	This bingo hall and casino operator is heavily impacted by the lockdown. The heightened risk to their older clientele means a return to pre-crisis trading levels seems a long way off.
Taylor Wimpey	+1.0	-0.42	Shares of this UK housebuilder sold off aggressively as the lockdown caused all of their operations to be put on hold. Consequently they cut the dividend and have raised equity.
National Express	+0.4	-0.40	Owning this bus and coach operator was unhelpful during the period as volume driven revenue was hit hard by the lockdowns and travel bans.

Top Over and Under-weight positions vs FTSE All-Share Index

Top Five Overweight Positions			Top Five Underweight Positions
M&G	+2.3%		HSBC	-3.1%
Intermediate Capital	+1.9%		Diageo	-2.4%
Games Workshop	+1.7%		Vodafone	-1.4%
Aveva	+1.7%		Reckitt Benckiser	-1.4%
Softcat	+1.6%		Lloyds	-1.2%

Source: JPMAM, as at 30th June 2020.

Market Outlook

A vast policy response from governments and central banks has, in the short term at least, averted the worst of the financial pain from Covid-19 crisis, leaving investors to gauge the long term costs and opportunities. Whilst asset prices have rebounded, the legacy of a heavily-indebted system weighs on growth prospects.

Much rests on what kind of economic and earnings recovery arrives in the post-pandemic world and whether stimulus packages can offset the damage inflicted by shutdowns. The sheer magnitude of central bankers' intervention suggests they are extremely concerned about long term economic scarring. They clearly worry that lingering economic weakness may soon become a problem for all. A negative real yield on 30 year US Treasuries suggests any recovery will be long in duration and modest in magnitude.

On a brighter note, it is already apparent that some companies and sectors are much better placed than others to cope with the enormous challenges ahead. Our stock picking is centred on those stocks that can meet the challenge of generating revenue, profits and dividend growth in the years ahead.

This is a global crisis like no other. Authorities around the world are currently walking a high-wire which is dangerously elevated and which has precipitous drops on both sides. In the continuing trade-off between lives and livelihoods, there are no silver bullets, only inexact exercises in probabilities and damage limitation.

Whilst the outlook remains so uncertain, Claverhouse will continue to tread carefully. Our core philosophy of investing in quality, reasonably priced companies with growth prospects should continue to stand the portfolio in good stead and help us navigate these unchartered waters to our shareholders' benefit.

Meanwhile, shareholders can take comfort from Claverhouse's very strong revenue reserves, which can be called upon, if necessary, to pay future shareholder dividends.

The current level of gearing is 12.5% gross (9.6% net of FTSE 100 futures).¹

William Meadon

Callum Abbot

Investment Managers

6th August 2020

¹ Net gearing is calculated after the application of derivatives such as futures, which are used to either increase or decrease the effective rate of the Company's gearing according to market conditions. The Company's net gearing figure is published weekly via an RNS announcement on the London Stock Exchange.

Interim Management Report

The Company is required to make the following disclosures in its half year report.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

The principal risks and uncertainties faced by the Company fall into the following broad categories: cybercrime; share price discount; political; investment and strategy; market; operational; loss of investment team; legal and regulatory/corporate governance; and financial. Information on each of these areas is given in the Strategic Report within the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2019. The recent emergence and spread of the Covid-19 virus has raised the emerging risk of global epidemics into a principal risk.

Related Parties Transactions

During the first six months of the current financial year, no transactions with related parties have taken place which have materially affected the financial position or the performance of the Company.

Going Concern

The Directors believe, having considered the Company's investment objectives, risk management policies, capital management policies and procedures, nature of the portfolio and expenditure projections, and the actual and potential economic and operational impact of Covid-19, that the Company has adequate resources, an appropriate financial structure and suitable management arrangements in place to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and, more specifically, that there are no material uncertainties pertaining to the Company that would prevent its ability to continue in such operational existence for at least 12 months from the date of the approval of this half yearly financial report. For these reasons, they consider that there is sufficient evidence to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the accounts.

Directors' Responsibilities

The Board of Directors confirms that, to the best of its knowledge:

(i)  the condensed set of financial statements contained within the half year financial report has been prepared in accordance with FRS 104 'Interim Financial Reporting' and gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Company, and of the assets, liabilities, financial position and net return of the Company as at 30th June 2020 as required by the UK Listing Authority Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules 4.2.4R; and

(ii)  the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R of the UK Listing Authority Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

In order to provide these confirmations, and in preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business;

and the Directors confirm that they have done so.

For and on behalf of the Board

Andrew Sutch
Chairman

6th August 2020

statement of comprehensive income

for the six months ended 30th June 2020

	(Unaudited) Six months ended 30th June 2020			(Unaudited) Six months ended 30th June 2019			(Audited) Year ended 31st December 2019
	Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
(Losses)/gains on investments held at fair value through profit or loss	-	(102,564)	(102,564)	-	53,797	53,797	-	77,518	77,518
Net foreign currency losses	-	(18)	(18)	-	-	-	-	-	-
Income from investments	6,998	-	6,998	10,517	-	10,517	19,912	-	19,912
Interest receivable and similar income	42	-	42	39	-	39	79	-	79
Gross return/(loss)	7,040	(102,582)	(95,542)	10,556	53,797	64,353	19,991	77,518	(51,180)
Management fee	(340)	(632)	(972)	(405)	(751)	(1,156)	(825)	(1,532)	(2,357)
Other administrative expenses	(458)	-	(458)	(356)	-	(356)	(618)	-	(618)
Net return/(loss) before finance costs and taxation	6,242	(103,214)	(96,972)	9,795	53,046	62,841	18,548	75,986	94,534
Finance costs	( 383)	(710)	(1,093)	(427)	(793)	(1,220)	(920)	(1,707)	(2,627)
Net return/(loss) before taxation	5,859	(103,924)	(98,065)	9,368	52,253	61,621	17,628	74,279	91,907
Taxation	-	-	-	(18)	-	(18)	(9)	-	(9)
Net return/(loss) after taxation	5,859	(103,924)	(98,065)	9,350	52,253	61,603	16,623	74,279	91,898
Return/(loss) per share (note 3)	10.19p	(180.82)p	(170.63)p	16.45p	91.94p	108.39p	31.10p	131.12p	162.22p

statement of changes in equity

for the six months ended 30th June 2020

	Called up		Capital
	share	Share	redemption	Capital	Revenue
	capital	premium	reserve	reserves	reserve1	Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Six months ended 30th June 2020 (Unaudited)
At 31st December 2019	14,218	156,267	6,680	245,512	25,417	448,094
Issuance of the Company's shares from Treasury	-	59	-	744	-	803
Issue of Ordinary shares	433	9,052	-	-	-	9,485
Net (loss)/return	-	-	-	(103,924)	5,859	(98,065)
Dividends paid in the period (note 4)	-	-	-	-	(9,597)	(9,597)
At 30th June 2020	14,651	165,378	6,680	142,332	21,679	350,720
Six months ended 30th June 2019 (Unaudited)
At 31st December 2018	14,192	155,384	6,680	171,977	23,800	372,033
Issue of Ordinary shares	26	685	-	-	-	711
Repurchase of the Company's shares into Treasury	-	-	-	(1,268)	-	(1,268)
Net return	-	-	-	52,253	9,350	61,603
Dividends paid in the period (note 4)	-	-	-	-	(8,947)	(8,947)
At 30th June 2019	14,218	156,069	6,680	222,962	24,203	424,132
Year ended 31st December 2019 (Audited)
At 31st December 2018	14,192	155,384	6,680	171,977	23,800	372,033
Issuance of the Company's shares from Treasury	-	198	-	2,650	-	2,848
Issue of Ordinary shares	26	685	-	-	-	711
Repurchase of the Company's shares into Treasury	-	-	-	(3,394)	-	(3,394)
Net return	-	-	-	74,279	17,619	91,898
Dividends paid in the year (note 4)	-	-	-	-	(16,002)	(16,002)
At 31st December 2019	14,218	156,267	6,680	245,512	25,417	448,094

¹   This reserve forms the distributable reserve of the Company and may be used to fund distributions to investors.

statement of financial position

at 30th June 2020

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	30th June 2020	30th June 2019	31st December 2019
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Fixed assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss	394,515	458,516	487,784
Current assets
Derivative financial assets	35	-	-
Debtors	1,212	2,254	1,569
Cash and cash equivalents	5,409	9,080	19,429
	6,656	11,334	20,998
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year	(20,451)	(45,718)	(60,688)
Net current liabilities	(13,795)	(34,384)	(39,690)
Total assets less current liabilities	380,720	424,132	448,094
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year	(30,000)	-	-
Net assets	350,720	424,132	448,094
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital	14,651	14,218	14,218
Share premium	165,378	156,069	156,267
Capital redemption reserve	6,680	6,680	6,680
Capital reserves	142,332	222,962	245,512
Revenue reserve	21,679	24,203	25,417
Total shareholders' funds	350,720	424,132	448,094
Net asset value per share (note 5)	598.5p	748.2p	789.4p

statement of cash flows

for the six months ended 30th June 2020

	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	30th June 2020	30th June 2019	31st December 2019
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Net cash outflow from operations before dividends and interest	(1,451)	(1,499)	(3,014)
Dividends received	6,972	9,102	19,567
Interest received	42	33	79
Interest paid	(1,344)	(1,169)	(2,547)
Overseas tax recovered	-	18	18
Net cash inflow from operating activities	4,219	6,485	14,103
Purchases of investments	(184,354)	(88,679)	(172,172)
Sales of investments	172,835	65,336	143,629
Settlement of foreign currency contracts	(3)	2	-
Settlement of futures contracts	2,188	-	(345)
Net cash outflow from investing activities	(9,334)	(23,341)	(28,888)
Dividends paid	(9,597)	(8,947)	(16,002)
Issuance of the Company's shares from Treasury	1,188	-	2,463
Repurchase of the Company's shares into Treasury	-	(1,268)	(3,394)
Issue of Ordinary Shares	9,485	711	711
Repayment of bank loan	(59,986)	-	-
Drawdown of Private Placement loan and bank Loan	50,000	15,000	30,000
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from financing activities	(8,910)	5,496	13,778
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents	(14,025)	(11,360)	(1,007)
Cash and cash equivalents at start of period/year	19,429	20,436	20,436
Unrealised gain on foreign currency cash and cash equivalents	5	4	-
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period/year	5,409	9,080	19,429
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents	(14,025)	(11,360)	(1,007)
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash and short term deposits	2,222	781	614
Cash held in JPMorgan Sterling Liquidity Fund	3,187	8,299	18,815
Total	5,409	9,080	19,429

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

for the six months ended 30th June 2020

1.  Financial statements

The information contained within the financial statements in this half year report has not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditors.

The figures and financial information for the year ended 31st December 2019 are extracted from the latest published financial statements of the Company and do not constitute statutory accounts for that year. Those financial statements have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies including the report of the auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement under either section 498(2) or 498(3) of the Companies Act 2006.

2.  Accounting policies

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' of the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice ('UK GAAP') and with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Financial Statements of Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts' (the 'SORP') issued by the Association of Investment Companies in October 2019.

FRS 104, 'Interim Financial Reporting', issued by the Financial Reporting Council ('FRC') in March 2015 has been applied in preparing this condensed set of financial statements for the six months ended 30th June 2020.

All of the Company's operations are of a continuing nature.

The accounting policies applied to this condensed set of financial statements are consistent with those applied in the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2019.

3.  Return/(loss) per share

		(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
		Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
		30th June 2020	30th June 2019	31st December 2019
		£'000	£'000	£'000
	Return/(loss) per share is based on the following:
	Revenue return	5,859	9,350	17,619
	Capital (loss)/return	(103,924)	52,253	74,279
	Total (loss)/return	(98,065)	61,603	91,898
	Weighted average number of shares in issue	57,472,116	56,833,327	56,649,063
	Revenue return per share	10.19p	16.45p	31.10p
	Capital (loss)/return per share	(180.82)p	91.94p	131.12p
	Total (loss)/return per share	(170.63)p	108.39p	162.22p

4.  Dividends paid

		(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
		Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
		30th June 2020	30th June 2019	31st December 2019
		£'000	£'000	£'000
	Unclaimed dividends refunded to the Company	-	(10)	(10)
	2019 fourth quarterly dividend of 10.25p (2018: 9.5p) paid in March	5,829	5,403	5,403
	2020 first quarterly dividend of 6.50p (2019: 6.25p) paid in June (2019: May)	3,768	3,554	3,555
	2019 second quarterly dividend of 6.25p paid in September	n/a	n/a	3,530
	2019 third quarterly dividend of 6.25p paid in December	n/a	n/a	3,524
	Total dividends paid in the period	9,597	8,947	16,002

All dividends paid in the period/year have been funded from the revenue reserve.

A second quarterly dividend of 6.50p (2019: 6.25p) per share, amounting to £3,809,000 (2019: £3,543,000) has been declared payable in respect of the year ending 31st December 2020. It will be paid on 1st September 2020 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 7th August 2020.

5.   Net asset value per share

		(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
		Six months ended	Six months ended	Year ended
		30th June 2020	30th June 2019	31st December 2019
	Net assets (£'000)	350,720	424,132	448,094
	Number of shares in issue at period/year end1	58,600,653	56,690,381	56,765,331
	Net asset value per share	598.5p	748.2p	789.4p

¹   Excluding nil (30th June 2019: 108,272; 31st December 2019: 105,322) shares held in Treasury.

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

JPMORGAN FUNDS LIMITED

6^th August 2020

ENDS

A copy of the half year will be submitted to the FCA's National Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

The half year will also shortly be available on the Company's website a t   www.jpmclaverhouse.co.uk w here up to date information on the Company, including daily NAV and share prices, factsheets and portfolio information can also be found.

 

END

 

 

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