Final Results

Temple Bar Investment Trust PLC

Final Results Announcement for the year ended 31 December 2015

Chairman’s Statement

Performance

The year under review has seen a continuation of volatile markets together with conditions generally unfavourable for Temple Bar’s value oriented investment approach. The total return on net assets of Temple Bar in 2015 was -1.0% which compares with a total return for the FTSE All Share Index of 1.0%. It is always disappointing when the Trust endures periods of underperformance but this is a natural consequence of our chosen investment style which very much favours a longer term standpoint. Temple Bar continues to outperform its benchmark over both five and ten year periods.

The Company’s portfolio is constructed to deliver both capital and income growth. The portfolio manager remains fully focussed on identifying good quality companies with attractive yields and run by strong management teams. Sometimes such companies are under-appreciated by the market for various reasons and accordingly offer value to a long term, patient investor. The benefits of this approach are reflected in Temple Bar’s returns over longer time periods.

Dividend

This is the first year in which the Company has paid dividends on a quarterly basis, a change implemented on our understanding of shareholder preference. There have already been three interim dividend payments of 7.93p per share and the directors are now recommending a final dividend of 15.87p per share to be paid on 31 March 2016 to those shareholders on the register as at 11 March 2016. The ex-dividend date for this payment is 10 March 2016. If approved, this would give a total dividend of 39.66p, an increase for the year as a whole of 2% and the 32nd consecutive year in which the Company has increased its annual dividend payment.

Gearing

The Company was only moderately geared at the year end, its long term borrowings largely matched by the relatively high cash and near cash position on the portfolio. At the year end, gearing (calculated net of cash and related liquid assets including our investment in a UK short dated gilt) was 3.8%. The Manager is only prepared to invest the available funds when he considers that suitable opportunities are available. This has generally not been the case in the recent past.

Share Capital Management

For large parts of 2013-14 the Company’s shares were trading at a premium to net asset value and it was therefore able to issue new shares to market participants. Throughout the majority of 2015 the Company’s shares have traded at a modest discount to their net asset value; consequently it has not been possible to issue new shares. While there were also no share repurchases during the year, the Board is prepared to undertake such action, subject to market conditions, if the discount widens both in absolute terms and relative to the Company’s peer group, as part of a proactive approach to discount/premium management. The Board recommends that the existing authorities to issue new ordinary shares and to repurchase shares in the market for cancellation or to hold in Treasury be continued. Accordingly it is seeking approval from shareholders to renew the share issue and repurchase authorities at the forthcoming annual general meeting.

The Board

As mentioned in the half year report, we were pleased to welcome to the Board during the year Lesley Sherratt, who is already making a positive contribution to Board discussion. We were also sorry to lose the services of Martin Riley, for health reasons, after 10 years of excellent service on the Board. In common with best practice, all directors are subject to annual re-election by shareholders. Every year the Board undertakes a formal and rigorous evaluation of each director including myself as Chairman.

Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held at Woolgate Exchange, 25 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5HA on 30 March 2016 at 11am. In addition to the formal business of the meeting the portfolio manager, Alastair Mundy, will, as usual, make a presentation reviewing the past year and commenting on the outlook. He will also be available to answer questions alongside the directors. Shareholders who are unable to attend the meeting are encouraged to use their proxy votes.

Outlook

There is no getting away from the fact that the last few years have been an uncomfortable time for committed adherents of the value investing approach. While in relative terms our portfolio has suffered as a consequence, investment is a long term matter and I am reassured that many of our shareholders appear to understand this. They appreciate that the value investment style is inherently cyclical but that, if one is patient and adheres to this approach, eventually some great opportunities will arise. Clearly we hope that this occurs sooner rather than later but if needs be we will remain patient before investing any of the surplus cash currently held on the portfolio.

John Reeve
Chairman
23 February 2016

Twenty Largest Investments
as at 31 December 2015

Company	Industry	Place of listing	Valuation £’m	% of portfolio
UK Treasury 4.00% 2016	Fixed Interest	UK	73.171	8.6
HSBC Holdings	Financials	UK	71.808	8.4
GlaxoSmithKline	Health Care	UK	57.567	6.7
BP	Oil & Gas	UK	55.995	6.5
Royal Dutch Shell	Oil & Gas	UK	42.842	5.0
Grafton Group	Industrials	UK	40.995	4.8
Lloyds Banking Group	Financials	UK	40.665	4.8
British American Tobacco	Consumer Goods	UK	33.011	3.9
Royal Bank of Scotland	Financials	UK	32.467	3.8
Direct Line Insurance	Financials	UK	28.597	3.3
BT Group	Telecommunications	UK	24.903	2.9
Gold Bullion Securities ETF	Financials	UK	19.297	2.3
Wm Morrison Supermarkets	Consumer Services	UK	18.294	2.1
Centrica	Utilities	UK	18.235	2.1
Tesco	Consumer Services	UK	17.995	2.1
SIG	Industrials	UK	17.603	2.1
CitiGroup	Financials	USA	16.938	2.0
Drax	Utilities	UK	16.404	1.9
CRH	Industrials	UK	16.033	1.9
Imperial Brands	Consumer Goods	UK	15.362	1.8
			658.182	77.0

Statement of Comprehensive Income
for the year ended 31 December 2015

		2015			2014
		Revenue	Capital	Total	Revenue	Capital	Total
		£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Investment income		31,243	-	31,243	30,262	-	30,262
Other operating income		10	-	10	12	-	12
		31,253	-	31,253	30,724	-	30,274
Losses on investments
Losses on investments held at fair value through profit or loss		-	(31,615)	(31,615)	-	(29,867)	(29,867)
Total income		31,253	(31,615)	(362)	30,274	(29,867)	407
Expenses
Management fees		(1,374)	(1,980)	(3,354)	(1,315)	(1,938)	(3,253)
Other expenses		(581)	(1,282)	(1,863)	(538)	(1,009)	(1,547)
Profit/(loss) before finance costs and tax		29,298	(34,877)	(5,579)	28,421	(32,814)	(4,393)
Finance costs		(2,635)	(4,000)	(6,635)	(2,639)	(3,999)	(6,638)
Profit/(loss) before tax		26,663	(38,877)	(12,214)	25,782	(36,813)	(11,031)
Tax		-	-	-	-	-	-
Profit/(loss) for the year		26,663	(38,877)	(12,214)	25,782	(36,813)	(11,031)
Earnings per share (basic & diluted)		39.87p	(58.14p)	(18.27p)	39.82p	(56.86p)	(17.04p)

The total column of this statement represents the Statement of Comprehensive Income prepared in accordance with IFRS.  The supplementary revenue return and capital return columns are both prepared under guidance issued by the Association of Investment Companies.  All items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued during the year.

The Company does not have any income or expense that is not included in net profit for the year.  Accordingly, the net profit for the year is also the Total Comprehensive Income for the Year, as defined in IAS1 (revised).

Statement of Changes in Equity
for the year ended 31 December 2015

	Ordinary	Share
	share	premium	Capital	Retained	Total
	capital	account	reserves	earnings	equity
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Balance at 1 January 2014	15,831	54,002	689,117	33,120	792,070
Unclaimed dividends	-	-	-	17	17
(Loss)/Profit for the year	-	-	(36,813)	25,782	(11,031)
Issue of share capital	888	42,038	-	-	42,926
Dividends paid to equity shareholders	-	-	-	(24,538)	(24,538)
Balance at 31 December 2014	16,719	96,040	652,304	34,381	799,444
Unclaimed dividends	-	-	-	35	35
(Loss)/Profit for the year	-	-	(38,877)	26,663	(12,214)
Issue of share capital	-	-	-	-	-
Dividends paid to equity shareholders	-	-	-	(31,510)	(31,510)
Balance at 31 December 2015	16,719	96,040	613,427	29,569	755,755

Statement of Financial Position
as at 31 December 2015

	31 December 2015		31 December 2014
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Non-current assets Investments held at fair value through profit or loss		855,625		873,781
Current assets
Receivables	2,722		3,256
Cash and cash equivalents	12,262		37,225
		14,984		40,481
Total assets		870,609		914,262
Current liabilities
Payables		(1,074)		(1,064)
Total assets less current liabilities		869,535		913,198
Non-current liabilities
Interest bearing borrowings		(113,780)		(113,754)
Net assets		755,755		799,444
Equity attributable to equity holders
Ordinary share capital	16,719		16,719
Share premium	96,040		96,040
Capital reserves	613,427		652,304
Retained earnings	29,569		34,381
		755,755		799,444
Total equity		755,755		799,444
Net asset value per share		1,130.14p		1,195.47p

Statement of Cash Flows
for the year ended 31 December 2015

	2015		2014
	£’000	£’000	£000	£’000
Cash flows from operating activities
Loss before tax		(12,214)		(11,031)
Adjustments for:
Purchases of investments¹	(360,358)		(305,944)
Sales of investments¹	346,899		291,681
		(13,459)		(14,263)
Losses on investments		31,615		29,867
Financing costs		6,635		6,638
Operating cash flows before movements in working capital		12,577		11,211
Increase/(decrease) in accrued interest		743		(835)
Increase in accrued dividend income		10		757
(Decrease)/increase in receivables		(219)		909
Increase/(decrease) in payables		10		(460)
Net cash flows from operating activities before and after income tax		13,121		11,582
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from issue of new shares Issue costs relating to 4.05% Private Placement Loan Unclaimed dividends Interest paid on borrowings		- (24) 35 (6,585)		42,926 (313) 17 (6,588)
Equity dividends paid		(31,510)		(24,538)
Net cash used in financing activities		(38,084)		11,504
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents		(24,963)		23,086
Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the year		37,225		14,139
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year		12,262		37,225

¹    Purchases and sales of investments are considered to be operating activities of the Company, given its purpose, rather than investing activities.

Notes

1. The figures set out above are prepared on the same basis as set out in the previous year’s annual accounts and are derived from the audited accounts of Temple Bar Investment Trust PLC for the years ended 31 December 2014 and 31 December 2015.The 2015 accounts will be sent to shareholders shortly.

2. The financial information contained in this announcement does not constitute full accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006.The 2015 accounts, on which the report of the auditors is unqualified, will be filed with the Registrar of Companies in due course.The audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014 on which the report of the auditors was unqualified and did not contain a statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006, have been filed with the Registrar of Companies.

23 February 2016

Contact:  Alastair Mundy
                Telephone [phone]
                Investec Fund Managers Limited