Securities Trust of Scotland plc
Growing long-term, delivering high income
Interim management statement - 1 April to 30 June 2008
Date of announcement: 21 August 2008
Profile
Objective To achieve rising income and long-term capital growth by investment in the UK.
Benchmark FTSE All-Share index
Sector UK Growth & Income
Listed 28 June 2005
Portfolio
Asset class 31 Mar 30 Jun
Equities 106.3% 106.8%
Fixed interest 2.6% 2.9%
Cash 1.8% 2.0%
Borrowings 10.7%) (11.8%)
Equity allocation 31 Mar 30 Jun
Financials 32.5% 27.2%
Oil and gas 12.2% 15.0%
Basic materials 9.3% 11.4%
Consumer goods 11.3% 10.9%
Industrials 8.9% 8.4%
Consumer services 7.7% 7.8%
Telecommunications 6.9% 7.0%
Healthcare 4.9% 5.6%
Utilities 5.2% 5.4%
Technology 1.0% 1.2%
Top 10 equity holdings (47.7% of total portfolio)
BP 7.9%
Royal Dutch Shell 7.1%
British American Tobacco 6.1%
Royal Bank of Scotland 4.4%
Vodafone 4.3%
HSBC 4.1%
Aviva 3.8%
GlaxoSmithKline 3.5%
Xstrata 3.3%
Rio Tinto 3.2%
Number of holdings 52
Key facts
Net assets £118 million
Share price 100.3p
Net asset value per share 115.5p
Discount/(premium) 13.2%
Net yield** 5.4%
**Dividend of 5.45p paid in the year to 31 March 2008.
Manager's commentary
After the trials of the first quarter, equity markets staged a revival in April
and early May. But as economic news deteriorated and inflation spiked higher,
this rally proved short-lived, with sharp falls in late May and June erasing the
gains seen earlier. The FTSE All- Share index fell by 1.4% overall.
With a fall of 1.6%, the fund marginally underperformed. Our banking holdings -
Barclays, RBS, HBOS and Lloyds TSB - were notably weak. Elsewhere, many of the
medium-sized companies that had performed well earlier in the year - such as
SIG, Inchcape and Carillion - succumbed to profit-taking on concerns about
declining economic growth.
Among the positives, chemicals group Elementis did well, while media company
Informa rose sharply after becoming a bid target. Our holdings in
GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca finally started to show signs of improvement.
Thanks to positive news on profits, our decision to increase exposure to
transport group Go-Ahead also paid off.
Ross Watson
Change in equity allocation
From 31 Mar to 30 Jun
Financials (5.3%)
Oil and gas 2.8%
Basic materials 2.1%
Consumer goods (0.4%)
Industrials (0.5%)
Consumer services 0.1%
Telecommunications 0.1%
Healthcare 0.7%
Utilities 0.2%
Technology 0.2%
Performance
Discrete performance over 12 months to 30 June
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Share Price (22.5%) 17.5% 15.4% - -
NAV (20.4%) 20.2% 20.0% - -
Benchmark (13.0%) 18.4% 19.7% - -
Cumulative performance over periods to 30 June 2008
One Three Six One Three Five Since
month months months year years years launch*
Share Price (14.9%) (12.0%) (18.9%) (22.5%) 5.0% - 10.2%
NAV (8.8%) (1.6%) (16.2%) (20.4%) 14.8% - 15.3%
Benchmark (7.1%) (1.4%) (11.2%) (13.0%) 23.2% - 23.8%
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
Source: Martin Currie and Fundamental Data. Bid to bid basis with net income
reinvested over the periods shown in sterling terms. These figures do not
include the costs of buying and selling shares in an investment trust. If these
were included, performance figures would be reduced.
The risks outlined at the end of this document relating to gearing and single
country markets are particularly relevant to this trust but should be read in
conjunction with all warnings and comments given.
All sources (unless indicated): Martin Currie as at 30 June 2008.
Capital structure
Ordinary shares 101,970,223
Board of directors
Neil Donaldson (chairman)
Charles Berry
Anita Frew
Andrew Irvine
Edward Murray
Material events and transactions
During the three month period, no shares were bought back for
cancellation.
At the AGM on 15 July all resolutions were passed.
Gearing at the end of the period was 11.8% (10.7% as at 31/03/08).
A final dividend for the year to 31 March 2008 of 2.15p has been paid to
shareholders on the register as at 30 May 2008. This made the total dividend for
the year to 31 March 2008 5.45p, an increase of 7.9% on the year to 31 March
2007.
The first interim dividend for the year ending 31 March 2009 of 1.15p per share
will be paid on 5 September 2008 to shareholders on the register on 15 August
2008.
Website
The trust has its own website at www.securitiestrust.com. There you will find
further details about the trust, information on Martin Currie, daily share
prices, and you can access regular webcasts by the manager.
www.securitiestrust.com
Key information
Year end 31 March
Annual general meeting July
Interim dividends paid March, June, September, December
Annual management fee as at 31 March 2008† 0.3%
Total expense ratio as at 31 March 2008* 0.6%
Epic code STS
Reuters code STS.L
†Percentage of net assets.
*Percentage of shareholders' funds. Includes annual management fee.
Net asset value and dividend history
As at Share NAV Discount/ Dividend
31 March price per share (premium) per share
2006 125.5p 135.6p 7.4% 2.85p
2007 141.3p 148.8p 4.8% 5.05p
2008 116.0p 121.53p 3.8% 5.45p
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
Risk factors
Please note that, as the shares in investment trusts are traded on a
stockmarket, the share price will fluctuate in accordance with supply and demand
and may not reflect the underlying net asset value of the shares.
Depending on market conditions and market sentiment, the spread between the
purchase and sale price can be wide. As with all stock exchange investments the
value of investment trust shares purchases will immediately fall by the
difference between the buying and selling prices, the bid-offer spread.
Investment trusts may also borrow money in order to make further investments.
This is known as "gearing" and can enhance shareholder returns in rising markets
but, conversely, can reduce them in falling markets.
Past performance is not a guide to future returns.
The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and
is not guaranteed. An investor may not get back the amount originally invested.
The majority of charges will be deducted from the capital of the trust. This
will constrain the capital growth of the trust in order to maintain the income
streams.
Exposure to a single country market increases potential volatility.
Important notice: This information is issued and approved by Martin Currie
Investment Management Ltd in its capacity as investment manager.
It does not in any way constitute investment advice or an invitation or
inducement to invest. This document is for the recipient only and should not be
given or sent to other parties.
Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd, registered in Scotland (no 66107)
Registered office: Saltire Court, 20 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2ES
Tel: 0808 100 21 25 Fax: 0131 222 2532 www.martincurrie.com
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and a member of the
Investment Management Association.
Please note that calls to the above number will be recorded.
*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.
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