Interim Management Statement

Temple Bar Investment Trust Plc

 

Interim Management Statement

For the quarter ended 31 March 2008

 

 

Objective

 

The Company's investment objective is to provide growth in income and capital
to achieve a long term total return greater than the benchmark FTSE All-share
Index, through investment primarily in UK securities.  The Company's policy is
to invest in a broad spread of securities with typically the majority of the
portfolio selected from the constituents of the FTSE 100 Index.

 

 

Material Events and Transactions

 

Market conditions in the first quarter of 2008 were very similar to those
prevailing in 2007.  Investors continued to worry about the effects of a US and
UK economic downturn whilst continuing to believe that this weakness would have
negligible effects on the strength of developing economies.  Resource stocks,
therefore, continued to perform very strongly while consumer related stocks
produced some of the poorest returns.

 

Temple Bar has maintained its exposure to many of the largest UK listed
stocks.  They exhibit balance sheet strength, low ratings, high dividend yields
and reasonably low operational gearing.  As yet they have not acquired the
anticipated safe-haven status but with earnings pressure spreading across the
market, these characteristics should become increasingly attractive.  Temple
Bar has also continued to purchase those stocks which it is believed most
heavily discount the likelihood of a deep consumer led recession in the UK and
the US.  Accordingly, additions have been made to holdings in, amongst others,
JD Wetherspoon, Signet, JJB Sports and Wolseley.  These have been funded
through sales of stocks such as Reuters, Qinetiq and Britivic.

 

A final dividend of 21.07p per share was paid on 31 March 2008 to shareholders
on the register as at 14 March 2008.  The total payment for the year ended 31
December 2007 was 30.98p per share.

 

There were no changes to the Company's share capital over the period.

 

 

Top Ten Holdings as at 31 March 2008

 

                                £'000  % total assets
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
Royal Dutch Shell ('B' shares) 41,166       8.61     
                                                     
BP                             40,599       8.49     
                                                     
HSBC                           39,290       8.22     
                                                     
Vodafone                       38,266       8.01     
                                                     
Unilever                       29,807       6.24     
                                                     
GlaxoSmithKline                29,395       6.15     
                                                     
HBOS                           18,442       3.86     
                                                     
AstraZeneca                    15,296       3.20     
                                                     
BT                             15,281       3.20     
                                                     
Signet                         13,632     ­­­2.85    
                                                     
                               281,174     58.83     
                                                     

 


Financial Performance

 

                                      Quarter to     Year to
                                                            
                                        31 March 31 December
                                                            
                                            2008        2007
                                                            
                                                            
                                                            
Total assets less current liabilities    £477.9m     £557.7m
                                                            
NAV total return                        (13.67)%     (4.33)%
                                                            
Dividend yield                             4.61%       4.08%
                                                            
NAV per share (debt at book value)       710.40p     847.33p
                                                            
NAV per share (debt at market value)     698.28p     835.61p
                                                            
Price per share                          672.00p     731.00p
                                                            
Discount (debt at market value)             3.8%       12.5%
                                                            
Discount (debt at book value)               5.4%       13.7%
                                                            
Benchmark NAV total return                                  
                                                            
     FTSE All-Share Index                (9.85)%       5.32%
                                                            
     FTSE 350 Higher Yield index        (12.78)%       1.18%
                                                            

 

Note: The directors are not aware of any significant events or transactions
which have occurred between the date of the financial information and the date
of publication, which would have a material impact on the financial position of
the Company.

 

 

The net asset value is published on a weekly basis and other useful background
information on the Company including downloads of published documentation such
as previous Annual Reports and Monthly Fact Sheets can be found at 
www.templebarinvestments.com.

 

 

Company Information

 

Launch date                  1926

Year end                       31 December

Results

            Interim              Announcement in July 2008

            Final                 Announcement in February 2009

Dividend payments         March, September

Price information            Published in the Financial Times under 'Investment
Companies'.

 

 

Contact

 

Martin Slade

Investec Investment Management Limited

2 Gresham Street

London EC2V 7QP

Tel:  [phone]