London, UK, 21 May 2018
Edison issues review on Witan Investment Trust (WTAN)
Witan Investment Trust (WTAN) has employed an active multi-manager strategy since 2004, offering investors diverse exposure to global equities. In 2017, the trust delivered another year of outperformance versus its composite benchmark, which it has surpassed over the last one, three, five and 10 years. WTAN's investment director, James Hart, believes that equities can continue to offer attractive returns for the patient investor, although he notes that stock market volatility is now higher than the benign levels experienced in 2017. In this environment, he believes that active stock picking, rather than blanket equity exposure, should produce better returns for investors. WTAN has a progressive dividend policy; its annual distribution has increased for the last 43 consecutive years.
WTAN's board actively manages the discount, aiming for its shares to trade close to NAV. In 2017, WTAN repurchased c 1.5% of its shares at discounts between 1.5% and 6.0% (the trust has been buying back shares at lower discounts than in recent years). Its current 0.8% share price discount to cum-income NAV is narrower than the averages of the last one, three, five and 10 years (range of 2.0% to 7.5%). WTAN has a distinguished dividend history; it has increased the annual payout for 43 consecutive years, its current yield is 2.0%.
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